Commodore_Power-Play_1983_Issue_06_V2_N03_Fall

Fain983 Volume U, Number 3

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Phlla, PA 1915-1

Software for the VIC 20

and Commodore 64 ™

power/■home computing

featuresFall 1983 Volume II, Numher3

Adventurer?

Sixty-four

/

34 Are You an Adventurer? by Diane LeBoldIf you like mystery novels, fantasy games or logic puzzles, you're

likely material for adventuring. In addition to the Scott Adams

adventures already available for the VIC 20, Commodore now has

four challenging "participatory novels" to delight (and frustrate)

our Commodore 64 users.

42 Four for the Sixty-four by Steve Finkel

Four new action games for the Commodore 64 will keep your

eye-hand coordination honed and your reflexes tuned. Can

YOU survive??

SO Saving High Resolution Screens by Jim Gracely

Last issue Jim explained how to create bit-mapped graphics on

your Commodore 64. Now you find out how to save your best

screens, so you can recall them any time you want.

56 Making Friends with SID, Part 4 by Paul Higginbottom

Make your Commodore 64 "piano" (see last issue) sound

even more realistic by using the filters in your Sound Interface

Device (SID).

departmentsLetters

Our readers offer advice and opinions.

Resolution

10 Bralndrops

From the editor

12 We're Glad You Asked

Technical editor Jim Gracely answers readers' questions.

14 The VIC Magician

Introducing FOR... NEXT Loops by Michael Tomczyk

16 ButterfleldEverybody Knows,,. by Jim Bulterfield

18 The Commodore Challenge Contest

Type and save this month's winner, Spider Rescue, by R.M. McDonough,

Jr. Then fill out the entry blank and send in a copy of your best for the

VIC 20. Maybe you'll be our next winner!

Ihome computing

SID, Port 4

23 High Scores

How do you measure up in our ongoing competition? If you beat our

champion gamesters' scores, send in a photo of the winning screen.

24 Access: Commodore User Groups

A complete list of user groups around the world.

30 No More Pencils, No More Books

Interactive LOGO by David Malmberg

65 Kids' Corner

A Note From New Mexico by Betsy Byrne

How to Submit Things to Kids' Corner

VIC 20 Drawing Contest

Multi-Draw for the Commodore 64 by Pete Lobl

Commodore Kids Win Awards by Betsy Byrne

A Printer Character Generator for the Commodore 64

by Josh Ral

Who Needs a Word Processor?... I Do! by Richard Kotomori

Confessions of a Computer Whlz-Kld's Sister by Diana Scimone

For Grown-ups Only by Stephen Erwin

TerrlficI by Betsy Byrne

103 Jiffies

Keyboard Overlay for Programmable Function Keys

by Paul Zander

Solitaire for the 64 and PETVCBM by Robert W. Baker

Two Cartoons for the VIC 20 by John Stillwell

117 Programs

Hextermlnator II: A Game for Unexpanded VIC 20

by George Currie

Check-64; Checkbook Manager for the Commodore 64

by Ron Cohen

122 Book Reviews

Machine Languagefor Beginners reviewed by Danny Byrne

Stimulating Simulations for the VIC reviewed by Jim Gracely

124 Glitch Fix

If we make a mistake, this is where we fix It.

126 New Products

New developments for Commodore computers from Independent manu

facturers.

128 Advertisers Index

staff

Publishing Manager

Neil Harm

Editor

Diane LcBold

Technical Editor

Jim Gracely

Associate Editor

Betsy Byrne

Staff Writers

Ron Cohen

Andy FlnkelSieve FinkelPaul Higginbottom

David Street

Michael Tomczyk

Contributing Writers

Robert Baker

Jim Butterfleld

Danny Byrne

George Currie

Stephen Erwin

Richard Kotomon

Peie Lobl

David Malmberg

Diana Scimone

John Stlllwell

Paul Zander

Technical Staff

Jeff Bruette

John Campbell

Rick Cotton

Andy Finkel

Bill Hlndorff

Cyndie Merten

Advertising Coordinator

Sharon Steinhotet

Circulation Manager

John O'Brien

Circulation Assistant

Kathy Reigel

Graphic Design

Neumann Gteenberg Schlenker.

King of Prussia, PA

Cover

Greg Purdon

Printing

Inicrnational Lithographing, Philadelphia, PA

Typography

Associates International, Inc.,

Wilmington. Delaware

Powi'r/Play Is publlshed (our times a year by the

Computer Systems Division, Commodore Business

Machine?, Inc., 1200 Wilson Drive, West Chester. PA

19380 Copyright © 1983 by Commodore Hertroncs

Lid. No material may be repnnted without permission.

Volume II. Number3. ISBN O-Ba731-Q02-a

Subscription Information US. subscriber rate

is $10.00 per year. Canadian subscriber rate is

$15 00 per year. Overseas $17.00 per year. Ques

tions concerning subscriptions should be directed

to Commodore Business Machines. Magazine

Subscription Department, Box 651. Holmes, PA

19043 Phone 800-345-8112. (Pennsylvania phene

l-800-6b"2-2444.)

VIC 20'", Commodore 64'". and SupefPET1"

are trademarks oi Commodore Electronics Ltd.. PET'

is a registered trademark of Commodore Business

Machines. Inc. CBMrM1sa registered trademark of

Commodore Electronics Ltd.

Coming Next in Commodore's User Magazines

Commodore: the Micro

computer Magazine. Issue

26 (October/November):

Features the latest software

under development at Com

modore. Find out about the

fantastic Super Expander for

the Commodore 64, Simon's

BASIC, VICTerm 40 telecom

munications software and

much more.

Power/Play. Winter: Our

Christmas special will feature

the hottest gift ideas for all

your Commodore friends and

relatives. Plus more games,

more home applications,

more on Commodore kids,

more programming tips for

beginners. Look for us in

early November,

Key to Entering Program Listings

11 [Fl,F2,F3,F4,F5,F6,F7,F8] ": F1,F2,F3,F4,

F5,F6, F7 AND F8

"[POUND]":ENGLISH POUND

"[PI]"PI SYMBOL

"A":UP ARROW

11 [HOME] ":UNSHIFTED CLR/HOME

"[CLEAR]":SHIFTED CLR/HOME

"[RVS]":REVERSE ON

"[RVOFF]":REVERSE OFF

11 [BLACK, WHITE, RED, CYAN, MAGENTA, GREEN, BLUE,

YELLOW]" THE 8 CTRL KEY COLORS

"[ORANGE,BROWN,L. RED,GRAY 1,GRAY 2,L.

GREEN,L. BLUE, GRAY 3]": THE 8

COMMODORE KEY COLORS (ONLY ON THE 64)

GRAPHIC SYMBOLS WILL BE REPRESENTED AS

EITHER THE LETTERS SHFT (SHIFT KEY) AND

A KEY: "[SHFT Q,SHFT K,SHFT V,SHFT T,

SHFT L]"

OR THE LETTERS CMDR {COMMODORE KEY) AND

A KEY:"[CMDR Q,CMDR H,CMDR S,CMDR N,

CMDR O]"

IF A SYMBOL IS REPEATED, THE NUMBER OF

REPITITIONS WILL BE DIRECTLY AFTER THE

KEY AND BEFORE THE COMMA:"[SPACE3,

SHFT S4,CMDR M2]"

4 COMMODORE: POWER/PLAY Fall 1983

YOU'VE

GOT TO DIG

DEEP TO FIND

A MORE

EXCITING GAME

THAN

MINER 2049ER.

Now, Reston brings Commodore VIC-20"

□ nd Commodore 64" owners one of the hottest

home computer gomes over created—Miner

2Q49er" Help the legendary Mountie, Bounty

Bob" chase the dastardly Yukon Yohon through

an abandoned uranium mine—all ten levels of

it. But you've got to avoid the deadly radioac

tive mutants. And wotch out for pulverizers,

explosives, slides and falls. And grab all the

treasure you can along the way. And beat theclock. Any computer game you've played up to

now has just been practice for Miner 2049er.'"

It's fast and furious, a gald mine of action for

the serious computer gamer. And Commodore

VIC-20" and Commodore 64IU owners can get it

only from Reston.

A Creative Pastime1" from

Reaton SoftwarewA Pronlko-Hall Company

11480 Sunset Hills Rd. Reston, VA 22090

Availoble at your local computar retailer or coll us at

(800] 336-0338.

Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore &A are

ragiitored trademark! o( Commodore CompuiBr, Ire,

Minar 20d°or and Bounty Bob ars rsgijisred Iradsmorks ol Big Fiva Software.

IFYOU OWNA COMMODORE VIC YOUKNOWITCANDOALLTHIS.

m

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JUPITERLANDER

CHESS VIC AVENGER GORF

What those extra few dol

lars get you is a simple little

device called a Commodore

VICMODEM.

It connects your tele

phone to your VIC 20™ or

Commodore 64™ computer

(resulting in something aptly

called telecomputing), giving

you access to information

such as you see on the

screens to your right,

Normally, you'd have to

type a short program into

your computer to help it make

the final transition into a

telecomputer.

However when you buy a

VICMODEM, you'll find we've

included a free software pro

gram. You just load it into your

Commodore Datassette

Recorder, and presto (give or

take a moment or two), you

have access to a vast library

of information and games.

Speaking of free,

Commodore also includes a

free subscription and a free

hour's time on CompuServe™

OMEGA RACE

and Dow Jones News/

Retrieval Service;- a free trial

offer on The Source,5" and a

discount program offer with

Comp-U-Store and General

Videotex Corp.

Let's see. Did we leave

anything out? Oh, yes. Along

with CompuServe comes a

free membership in the

Commodore Information Net

work. This is your HOTLINE to

Commodore. (How often do

you get to speak directly to a

manufacturer?) Through it we

Certain offers subiect to change CompuServe is a trademark of CompuServe. Inc and HSR Block Co Dow Jonos Nows/Retrieval Seivice is a registered trademark

ol Dow Jones & Co . Inc The Source is a service mark of Source Telecomputing Corporanon, 3 subsidiary ol Reader's Digest Corporation. Inc

BUT DIDYOU KNOW FOR ABOUT $100YOU CAN ALSO GET ITTO DOALLTHIS?

Mrwi^t <L4* • J»..*.,-

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THC SOUBCl

TRAVELINFORMATION

WIRE SERVICENEWS

COLLEGEPLANNING

MOVIEREVIEWS

SHOPAT HOME I.Q.TESTS

can answer any questions you

might have about your com- ,

puter, or pro

gramming, or

anything else

Commodore-

related, via

electronic

mail.

The Commodore Informa

tion Network is also your di

rect line to the Commodore

Bulletin Board, which

Commodore owners use to

keep in touch with each other,

GAMES SPORTS NEWS

for programming tips, Public

Domain Software, and

technical support.

y "*ci?r-=i

£ HiKutab

THE COMMODORE VIC 20,

A REAL COMPUTER FOR THE PRICE OF A1OY.

Altogether, these little ex

tras we've included with our

VICMODEM add up to a value

of $197.50. A nice return on an

investment of around $100.

Some computer com

panies think it's reasonable to

ask as much as $500 for telecomputing capabilities such

as ours.

However, with the

Commodore VICMODEM sell

ing for around $100, we feel

we're being a whole lot morereasonable. Don't you agree?

Z commodore

COMPUTERThese are |ust a tew examples from our existing library of soltwara available lor 1Mb VIC 20 U S A -R0 Bon 500,

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9" Screen - Green Text Display $ 79.00

12" Screen - Green Text Display (anti-reflective screen) $ 99.00

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Display Monitors From Sanyo

With the need for computing power growing every day, Sanyo has

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Equally important, all are built with Sanyo's commitment

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letters

How to Use the

VIC's Programmable

Function Keys

To the Editor

There has been much said

about those mysterious function

keys. I have seen many ways to

use them and address them. Most

were very awkward and, when

used, tended to make one never

want to use them again. However,

I have used them in a different

way and have had good results.

In all I have read, you always

use the CHR$ function with the

function keys. Well, I have been

using these same keys in the same

way you would use any other vari

able. Take an A or I or a Z. You

don't use CHR$ to test for these

with a GET statement, so why

would you do it with the function

keys? Just think of each function

key as a simple variable. I would

use it like this:

100 GETA$:IF A$=""THEN

100

110 IFA$="[Fl]"THEN500

120 IF A$="[F3]"THEN600

130 IF A$ = "[F5]"THEN700

This has worked for me just as

if I had used IFA$ = "A" or IFA$ =

"I" or any other variable. Just type

the F1-F8 keys as regular variables.

Try it and see how easy it is to use

this way.

David C. O'Sada

Jacksonville. Florida

A Printer Routine

for Subroutines

To the Editor:

In the process of writing a very

long program, I needed a way to

list the separate subroutines on

the printer. Luckily, I had room

for a routine to do this. Here's

how it works.

When run, the program asks for

three inputs from the user: title of

routine, starting line number and

ending line number. The listing of

this routine is a sample output.

Notice that the line numbers are

included in the title.

First, leave room somewhere

for the routine in your program. 1

chose to put it at the very begin

ning and call the routine simply by

typing RUN. If I want the rest of

the program to run, then I type

RUN 100.

Then (easy as pie), answer

the prompts. When the screen

clears and the printer stops, hit

RETURN. When the printer

stops again, hit RETURN to

close the file. C

On yes, I almost forgot. I LOVE

my Commodore 64!

Lenton K. Goforth

Brea, California

Printer Routine

5 PRINT"[CLEAR,DOWN4]"

10 PRINT"[RVS]PRINTER[SPACE]OUTPUT [RVOFF]"

20 PRINT:PRINT"PAGE[SPACE]TITLE";:INPUT PT$

25 PRINT:PRINT"STARTING[SPACE]LINE[SPACE]NUMBER";:INPUT SL

30 IF SL=0 THEN 25

35 PRINT:PRINT"ENDING[SPACE]LINE[SPACE]

NUMBER";:INPUT EL

40 IF EL=0 THEN 35

45 PRINT"[DOWN3,SPACE5]PLEASE[SPACE]ADJUST[SPACE]PAPER [SPACE]IN[SPACE]PRINTER"

50 PRINT"[DOWN]HIT[SPACE,RVS,SPACE]Fl[SPACE,

RVOFF,SPACE]WHEN[SPACE]READY"

55 GET A$:IF A$=""THEN 55

60 IF A$OCHR$(133)THEN 50

65 OPEN 4,4,0:CMD 4:PRINT CHR${14);"[SPACE3]

"PT$;"[SPACE6]LINES"SL"-"EL;CHR$(15)

70 PRINT#4:CLOSE 4

72 PRINT"[CLEAR,DOWN7]"

75 PRINT"OPEN4,4,6:CMD4:LIST"SL"-"EL

80 PRINT"PRINT#4,:CLOSE4"

85 PRINT"[UP6]";

9 0 PRINT"[SPACE3,RVS,SPACE3]HIT[SPACE]RETURN

[SPACE3]"

95 END

100 REM **** START OF REST OF PROGRAM ****

COMMODORE: POWER/PLAY Fall 1983 9

braindrops

Alice in Adventureland

Some people can't hack ad

venture games. They get too frus

trated by the crazy, convoluted

logic and the limitations intrinsic to

each game. Maybe they need to

be entertained by graphic wonders

on their screens, rather than (ugh!)

just words. Or maybe they prefer

to get physically involved—

bouncing around in their chairs,

elbows flapping, tongues lolling

out, feet dancing to the erratic

rhythm of alien ray guns as they

wrestle with a joystick, maiming

freaky little creatures—rather

than just sitting there thinking

and drawing maps.

Not me. I've always been sus

ceptible to words. It seems to have

come with the territory, from the

time my mother used to chase me

out of the house (I think 1 was elev

en) with the threat that my eyes

would fall out if I read any more

and I needed the fresh air, any

way; right up until now, when my

eyes feel like they WILL fall out

from sitting in front of my CRT for

hours. Words and I have gone a

lot of places-—down rabbit holes,

into enchanted gardens, across

the forbidden thresholds of magic

theaters. So I guess it was natural

for somebody like me to take to

adventuring.

That's why this issue has been

great fun. It gave me an unavoid

able reason to sit down and play

adventure games again—some

thing I don't usually dare to do

unless I plan not to see anybody

or go anywhere for a couple of

weeks. If you have that kind of

head, I'll bet you're a potential

adventurer yourself. Take a look

at our adventure feature in this

issue to verify.

And now for an important an

nouncement. WE'VE CHANGED

OUR PROGRAM LISTING FOR

MAT!! Now, instead of the reverse

graphic symbols that have caused

frustration for many of our new pro

grammers, we have nice, legible

letter-quality WORDS that tell you

which keys to press. This should

delight all of you who have been

having problems translating those

sometimes only semi-legible re

verse graphic symbols.

In our new format, the words

in brackets tell you which keys to

press. When you press the appro

priate keys you'll see those nasty

graphic symbols appear on your

screen—but they'll be the correct

symbols, which is usually essential

if you want your program to run

right. Thanks to Jim Butterfield,

who invented the program that

translates those symbols into

words, and to Jim Gracely. who

modified it to suit our needs even

better. A listing of the bracketed

words and what they mean ap

pears on page 4.

Our new Kids' Comer depart

ment keeps growing, thanks to

Betsy Byrne's tireless efforts. I'm

astonished (and so are some of

our grown-up programmers) at

some of the work you kids are

doing. Even kids as young as ten

year-old Josh Rai are writing pro

grams that we adults would have

a hard time thinking up, let alone

actually getting to work.

Also in this issue you'll find

another enlightening article about

LOGO by Mr Turtle himself, David

Malmberg. This time you'll find

out how you can use LOGO,

which will soon be available for

the Commodore 64. to create

your own LOGO lander game.

Next issue will be our Christmas

special. If you plan to buy pre

sents for your computer-using

friends and relatives, the Winter

Power/Play should help solve

some of your Christmas shopping

problems. I almost hate to men

tion Christmas so soon, but you

know it always manages to sneak

up on us some time before the end

of the year, so you may as well plan

to do it up right. Ho Ho. C

—Diane LeBold

Editor

10 COMMODORE: POWER/PLftY Fall 1983

Disk Drive Doctor

SaleFACTS

• It has been estimated that 60% of all drive downtime is directly related to poorly maintained drives.

• Drives should be cleaned each week regardless of use.

• Drives are sensitive to smoke, dust and all micro particles.

• Systematic operator performed maintenance is the best way of ensuring error free use of your

computer system.

The Cheetah disk drive cleaner can be used with single or double sided 51/2" disk drives. The Cheetah isan easy to use fast method of maintaining efficient floppy diskette drive operation.

The Cheetah cleaner comes with 2 disks and is packed in a protective plastic folder to preventcontamination. List $29.95 / Sale $19.95

Features

Cleanings Per Kit

Price

Abrasivity

Programming

Required

Cheetah

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None

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3M

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Minimum

No

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High

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Verbatim

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Add $3.00lor postage. Add S6.OOI01 CANADA, PUERTO RICO. HAWAII

orders. WE DO NOT EXPORT TO OTHER COUNTRIES

Enclose Cashiers Cried. Money Order or Personal Crieck Allow u

flays lor delivery. 2 to 7 days (or prone orfleis. 1 day express mail!

Canada oideis must be in U.E dollars. We accepl Visa and Master-Card

(WE IOVE OUB CUSTOMERS)ENTERPRIZESBOX 550, BARRING!ON, ILLINOIS 60010

Phone 312/362-5244 to order

we're glad you asked

Our technical editor,

Jim Gracelu. answers

readers'

#

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

#

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

questions.

KEY

[INST]

[RTRN]

[CRSR R]

[F7]

[PI]

[F3]

[F5]

[CRSR D]

3

W

A

4

Z

S

E

[SHFT]

5

KEY

[INST]

[RTRN]

[CRSR R]

[F7]

[Fl]

[F3]

[F5]

[CRSR D]

3

W

A

4

Z

S

E

[SHFT]

5

Q 1 can't locate a table withthe PEEK(197) key codes for the

Commodore 64.1 have looked in

both the user's guide and the Pro

grammer's Reference Guide and

cannot find the

# KEY

17 R

18 D

19 6

20 C

21 F

22 T

23 X

24 7

25 Y

26 G

27 8

28 B

29 H

30 u

31 V

32 9

33 I

# KEY

17 R

18 D

19 6

20 C

21 F

22 T

23 X

24 7

25 Y

26 G

27 8

28 B

29 H

30 U

31 V

32 9

33 I

information in

# KEY

34 J

35 0

36 M

37 K

38 0

39 N

40 +

41 P

42 L

43 -

44 .

45 :

46 @

47 ,

48 [POUND]

49 *

50 ;

# KEY

34 J

35 0

36 H

37 K

38 0

39 N

40 +

41 P

42 L

43 -

44 .

45 :

46 @

47 ,

48 [POUND]

49 *

50 ;

either of them. Can you help?

A It seems that somewherealong the way someone forgot all

about that table. Don't fret how

ever, because here it is:

# KEY

51 [CLEAR]

52 [RIGHT SHIFT]

53 =

54 t

55 /

56 1

57 -

58 [CNTRL]

59 2

60 [SPACE]

61 [CMDR]

62 Q

63 [RUN/STOP]

64 NO KEY

# KEY

51 (CLEAR]

5 2 [RIGHT SHIFT]53 =

54 t

55 /

56 1

57 -

58 [CNTRL]

59 2

60 [SPACE]

61 [CMDR]

62 Q

63 [RUN/STOP]64 NO KEY

■


Q We have tried to run"Wheel of Gold" (Spring, 1983),

but consistently get an "out of

memory" error in line 30, even

after installing a 16K expander.

Please help us!

A James Dunn, author of"Wheel of Gold", replies

"Wheel of Gold" uses a tech

nique that protects an area of

RAM from BASIC overwriting it. It

stores the special character set in

this area so that the VIC chip can

access it. This is done by "fooling"

BASIC into thinking that there is

less memory than there really is.

The key to this is in memory loca

tions 55 and 56. These locations

are a zero page pointer that tells

BASIC where the top of memory

is. "Wheel of Gold" lowers the

high byte, location 56. (The nor

mal value in location 56 is 30 if

you have a 5K VIC.} This tech

nique will also work if you have

expanded memory. The value in

56 depends on how much mem

ory you attach. Unfortunately the

VIC chip cannot access the expan

sion memory. This means that

special character sets stored in

protected high memory on an ex

panded VIC cannot work with the

VIC chip. This is why "Wheel of

Gold" will not work with memory

expansion.

After spending long hours typ

ing in a program it is always best to

SAVE a copy to tape or disk first

before RUNning it. If it crashes

and the VIC locks up, you will

have no alternative but to switch

the VIC off, then on. This erases

the program and you will have to

re-type it. The important thing to

remember is that a RUN/STOP-

RESTORE does not reset all the

pointers inside the VIC 20. Loca

tions 55 and 56 are ones that are

not reset. The VIC is still "fooled".

In fact, if you finish with "Wheel of

Gold" and decide to load another

program, you will find that mem

ory is still less than should be.

The fix is simple however. Just

POKE 56 back to its initial value

(30 for unexpanded VIC). It might

be a good idea to delete one of

the first REM lines and replace it

with POKE 56,30. That way you

wouldn't have the problem re-

RUNning it. You still must reset

BASIC after you are through. You

can do this by either turning the

VIC off and on (wait at least 3 sec

onds between off and on) or you

can type SYS64802 which will

accomplish the same thing. This

is called a warm start and will also

erase memory. C

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the IfIG magician

Introducing

"For... Next" Loopsby Michael Tomczyk

Michael Tomczyfc

FOR... NEXT loops are probably used more

often than any other BASIC command, except

PRINT. These loops are used for three purposes:

1) to insert a time delay in your program and 2) to

count a series of number values, in order, and 3) to

repeat an action in your program a specified num

ber of times.

Time Delay Loops

A "time delay loop" looks like this:

10 FORT = lTO200:NEXT

This line means, "count to 200 before going on

to the next action in the program"... but the word

NEXT doesn't mean "next action." It means

FOR1TO200, count the NEXT NUMBER (in this

case, 1,2,3, and so on up to 200). First, here's a

program with NO time delay:

10 PRINT "VIC-20 ";

30 GOTO10

Type RUN/STOP to "stop" the program, then

type this line and hit RETURN:

20 FORT = lTO900:NEXT

Type LIST and hit RETURN to see your program,

then type RUN and RETURN to see how it works.

The time delay loop has slowed down the pro

gram... and will slow down ANY BASIC PRO

GRAM. You can, in fact, insert Line 20 anywhere

in your BASIC programs to create time delays. Try

changing 900 in Line 20 to get a longer or shorter

time delay.

Counting, Counting...

The only difference between a time delay loop

and a counting loop is where you put the NEXT

command.

In a time delay loop, you should put the NEXT

immediately after the first part of the loop. But in a

counting loop, the order should be: first, the FOR

part of the loop; second, the program action; and

third (immediately AFTER the program action), the

NEXT command. Here's an example that counts

from 1 to 10 and PRINTs the numbers on the screen:

10FORN = lTO10:PRINTN:NEXT

You could count any series of numbers, like this:

10FORN = 150TO200:PRINTN:NEXT

But counting is also used for other purposes. For

example, you might want to make the VIC 20 move

through a progression of musical note values, in

order, to see how they sound. Here's how:

10POKE36878,15

20 FORM = 128TO255:POKE36876,M:PRINTM

40 NEXTM

50 POKE36876.0

This program POKEs the VIC speaker numbered

36876 with the musical note value of M. The note

value M is actually a range of numbers from 128 to

255. We defined this range in Line 20 (FORM =

128TO255}. Then we POKE36876 with the value

14 COMMODORE: POWER/PLHY Fall 1993

of M and at the same time we PRINT the POKE

numbers that match each musical note.

Line 40 provides the NEXT command which

makes the program move from 128 to 129 to 130,

and so on until it reaches 255. Note that the NEXT

command doesn't have to be on the same line as

the FOR... part of the loop. Line 50 simply turns

off the speaker.

There are numerous examples of FOR...

NEXT loops being used to count values or proceed

through ranges of numbers. The color program on

page 34 of the VIC 20 owner's manual is another

good example.

Repeating BASIC Commands

You can make a BASIC command go back and

repeat over and over again using a FOR... NEXT

loop. Here's an example:

10 FORK = 1TO10:PRINT'COUNTING":NEXT

Here, the important thing is to put the part you

want to repeat BETWEEN the FOR and NEXT por

tions of the loop. This program PRINTs the word

"COUNTING" 10 times on the screen.

Here's another type of counting program:

10 FORG = 1TO21:PRINTCHR$(166);:NEXT

This program line PRINTs a graphic symbol 21

times across the top of the screen. It tells the VIC 20

to PRINT the symbol represented by the CHR$

value (166). CHR$ values for all characters are

shown on pages 145-147 of the owner's guide. Try

substituting some other numbers. Here's another

variation which gives the SAME RESULT:

10 FORG - 1TO21:PRINT" gg ";:NEXT

HOLD DOWN THE 0 key and type " + "

Finally, how about seeing the symbols repre

sented by all the CHR$ values? This program will

do that:

10 FORC = 0TO191:PRINTCHR$(C);:PRINT

SPACE SPACE "C:NEXT

Using More Than One Loop

You can use several FOR... NEXT loops in your

programs, and even separate them... but one thing

you CANNOT DO is "stagger" your loops OUT

SIDE of each other. This means, if you use twoloops, you must arrange your program so the loops

are "nested" inside each other. The best way to

demonstrate this is to show you a correctly "nested"

program and an incorrect program:

CORRECT

—10 FORA = 1TO5:PRINT"HELLO"

I—20FORB = lTO10:PRINT"GOOD-BYE"•—30 NEXTBL—40 NEXTA

INCORRECT

r* 10 FORA = 1TO5:PRINT"HELLO"

f*20FORB = lTO10:PRINT"GOOD-BYE"■—30 NEXTA—40 NEXTB

Improper "nesting" (arranging) of loops in your

program will cause the VIC 20 to give you a "NEXT

WITHOUT FOR" error message. You will also get

this error message if you forget to put in a NEXT

command after the FOR portion.

Summary ^^_

These are only a few examples using FOR...

NEXT loops. Try experimenting with the formats

given above and you'll find that FOR... NEXT

loops will make your programming more efficient,

interesting, and creative. C

COMMODORE: POWER/PL4Y Fall 1983 15

builerfield

Everybody Knows....by Jim Butterfield

I must apologize... everything

in this article is well known. Ask

anybody... they'll say, "Oh, yes,

everybody knows that". Silly, isn't

it? These things are so well known

that nobody has ever thought to

mention them to you. Or perhaps

you've never thought to mention

them to your neighbor, since

everybody knows about them.

There are so many things that

everybody knows (except maybe

you) that I'll need to pick a selec

tion of the more obvious ones. I'll

just touch on the subjects here.

Fuzzy Numbers.Everybody knows that the

computer cannot hold decimal

fractions exactly. Within the com

puter, they are held as endless re

peating values (just as one third

is .33333.... in decimal). All you

need to do to confirm this is to ask

the computer to PRINT 8.13 and

see what it says.

So we all know that for ac

counting purposes, we must beat

the fuzzy number problem with

careful rounding.

Everybody knows that raising to

a power and taking a square root

goes through a strange calculation

involving logarithms and exponen

tial functions and like that. As a

result, we all know that these re

sults are close, but not exact We

can confirm this by typing: FOR

J=l to 10:PRINT J t 2:NEXT J.

And we know, of course, that

multiplication doesn't have this

problem; so we could eliminate

the above fuzzy numbers by

printing J*J.

It's well known, too, that num

bers that print exactly are not

necessarily exact. If I ask the com

puter to PRINT SQR(25) it will

obediently print the square root

of 25, or 5. But we don't let the

computer fool us; even though it

printed 5 exactly, we spotted the

SQR function there and know

to be suspicious. Sure enough,

PRINT SQR{25}-5 confirms it;

instead of getting zero, we get a

very small number.

By the way, we all know about

those numbers with the letter E in

them. If the E is followed by a plus

sign, it's a very large number; if the

E is followed by a minus sign, it's

a very small number. E stands for

"exponent notation" which is the

same as "scientific notation" on

calculators... but that's well known,

of course. If you ask the computer

to PRINT .00000000123, we'll

see the number repeated back in

E-notation. But we all knew about

that, of course.

So we know to watch for test

ing for equal on a number that's

been through a "fuzzy" process. In

other words, we must not code

IF SQR(25) =5... the computer

will probably not find the two

values equal. Instead of testing for

"equal", we should test for "very

close" with something like iF ABS

(SQR(25)-5)< .0001... and we'll

get good results. But you know

that already, of course.

The RETURN ActionIt's intuitively obvious to the

most casual observer that the

RETURN key should have been

called the "DO IT" key. When you

press that key, you're telling the

computer to do, or execute, what

ever is on the line you're leaving.

That's all well and good; after you

type in a command, you want the

computer to do it.

There are times, however, when

you don't want a line executed

(except, perhaps, by firing squad).

Perhaps you've been drawing a

dreaded Grunk, or part of it, on

the computer screen and want to

continue to the next part of the

screen. Perhaps you've been try

ing to correct a line of BASIC and

botched it... which sometimes

happens if you get into the pro

grammed cursor mode. Maybe

you were typing a program into

your computer, and when some

body phoned, you just typed the

message onto a spare part of the

computer screen. You don't want

the computer to try to do what

ever is on the screen. You just

want to exit to the next line without

doing anything.

And you know, of course, that

the way to abandon the current

line is to hold down the SHIFT

key and press RETURN. Shifted

16 COMMODORE: POWEFVPLAY Fall 19B3

RETURN might be considered

the "DON'T DO IT" key. It can

get you out of a lot of messy

situations.

Garbage CollectionEverybody knows that certain

kinds of strings can involve you in

a nasty delay that happens at un

predictable times. If you didn't

know about it, you might think

that your machine has "crashed",

since it goes silent and won't re

spond to the RUN/STOP key.

Try the following program:

1

1

1

1

00

10

20

30

DIM

FOR

AS{J

NEXT

A$(500

J = l TO

)=STR$

J

)

500

(J)

Now, RUN the program; it will

take seven seconds or so to com

plete. After you do so, type as a

direct statement:

PRINT "THERE ARE";FRE

{0);"BYTES FREE"

We all know that garbage col

lection will be invoked, and it will

take this line almost twenty sec

onds to complete printing. During

the pause, the RUN/STOP key will

have no effect. You'll see little or

no pause if you have a PET/CBM

which comes with a 4.0 BASIC;

but, of course, you knew that

already.

And it's well known that dou

bling the number of strings can

multiply garbage collection delays

by four. Try changing 500 to 1000

in the above program, for example;

as expected, you'll see the delay

increase to over a minute.

Of course, we know that there

are methods of combatting gar

bage collection delays. There isn't

room to discuss them here; but

once we know to look for garbage

collection delays, we can often

sidetrack them.

ConclusionYou knew all this, of course,

plus lots of other fairly obvious

bits of information. But here's the

funny part: you never thought

to mention any of them to your

neighbor or classmate or fellow

club member. After all, every

body knows....

It turns out that there are lots

of people who have never heard

about such things. Because no

body thought to tell them what is

obvious... to themselves. C

LoadTHE INTERNATIONAL USER'S

NEWSLETTER/MAGAZINE

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the commodore challenge

Congratulations to

Commodore Challenge

Contest WinnersR.M. McDonough, Jr. of Panama City, Florida for Spider Rescue

Honorable Mention goes to:

Juan Rivero of Hurlburt AFB, Florida, for Starfottress

Thanks to all of you who submitted programs. They were all, as usual,

great fun. (We never seem to have any problems getting volunteer judges for

this department, for some reason.) And keep up the good work. Maybe next

time the winner will be you.

The Commodore Challenge

Prizes • Prizes • Prizes

If you've been playing around at home developing

original games and programs for your unexpanded

VIC 20, send your best—on cassette or disk, please-

to the Commodore Challenge contest. Include a

brief description of the program's purpose, including

documentation on how to use it. If it's a game, be sure

to include instructions.

Programs requiring memory expansion are eligible,

too, but will not be published unless space allows.

Winners will receive a ViC 20 8K Memory Ex

pander Cartridge. All entries become the property of

Commodore Business Machines, Inc., upon submis

sion. Winning entries published by POWER/PLAY

will become public domain software.

Fill out the entry form below, and submit it with

your game or program to:

Commodore Business Machines, Inc.

1200 Wilson Drive

West Chester, PA 19380

Attn: POWER/PLAY

Name

Commodore Challenge Contest... Entry Form

_ Age Phone

Address . Program Title

City. . State .Zip

I understand that my software entry becomes the property of Commodore Business Machines, Inc., upon

submission, and that winning entries published by POWER/PLAY become public domain software.

Signature

Parent's signature, if contestant is minor.

Void Where Prohibited


Spider RescuebyR. M.McDonough, Jr.

In order to fit this program into your VIC 20 type the second part (Spider Rescue) and SAVE. The see

the first part (Spider intro) and SAVE. Then type ond part will load automatically after you RUN the

first part. C

Spider Intro

0 PRINT"[CLEAR,RIGHT4,DOWN,GREEN,RVS]SPIDER[SPACE]RESCUE",

11 [DOWN, RIGHT3,BLACK] BY [SPACE] R.M.MCDONOUGH"

1 PRINT"[D0WN2]USE[SPACE]JOYSTICK[SPACE]TO[SPACE]GUIDE","

[RIGHT]YOUR[SPACE]BRAVE[SPACE]SOLDIER","TO[SPACE]RESCUE

[SPACE]THE[SPACE]HOSTAGES"

2 PRINT"[RIGHT2,UP]BY[SPACE]TOUCHING[SPACE]THEM"

3 PRINT"[D0WN,RIGHT2]BEWARE[SPACE]OF[SPACE,RED]SPIDERS","

[BLACK,RIGHT4]LURKING[SPACE]ABOUT"

4 PRINT"[DOWN,MAGENTA]THEY[SPACE]CAN[SPACE]BE[SPACE]

STUNNED","BY[SPACE]YOUR[SPACE]STUN[SPACE]GRENADES"

5 PRINT"[RIGHT2,DOWN3]HIT[SPACE]-C-[SPACE]TO[SPACE]

CONTINUE"


7 IF A$="C"THEN 9

8 GOTO 6

9 PRINT"[CLEAR,BLACK]GRENADES[SPACE]ARE[SPACE]LAUNCHED",

"BY [SPACE]HOLDING[SPACE]JOYSTICK","IN[SPACE]THE[SPACE]

DESIRED"

10 PRINT"DIRECTION[SPACE]AND[SPACE]PUSHING","THE[SPACE]

FIRE[SPACE]BUTTON"

11 PRINT"[DOWN,GREEN]START[SPACE]WITH[SPACE]3[SPACE]

SOLDIERS","EXTRA[SPACE]SOLDIER[SPACE]ADDED","EACH

[SPACE]TIME[SPACE]YOU[SPACE]RESCUE"

12 PRINT"A[SPACE]COMPLETE[SPACE]SET","OF[SPACE]40[SPACE]

HOSTAGES"

13 PRINT"[DOWN,RED]EXTRA[SPACE]SPIDER[SPACE]ALSO","ADDED

[SPACE]WITH[SPACE]COMPLETION"

14 PRINT"[DOWN3,BLACK,RIGHT3]HIT[SPACE]-C-[SPACE]TO[SPACE]

LOAD","[RIGHT4]MAIN[SPACE]PROGRAM"


16 IF A$="C"THEN 18

17 GOTO 15

18 FOR 1=7424 TO 7503:READ R:POKE I,R:NEXT



19

20

21

22

23

24

DATA

DATA

0 ,0,

124,

66,129

DATA

DATA

44,60

DATA

PRINT

:POKE

0 ,48

255,

0 ,24

0,0,0,0,0,0,16,56,80,

84,124,56,68,40,16,40

,126,127,127,62,30,56

120,

,153

,24,

84,18,16

,90,189,

60,24,60

255,255,255,255,255,255,255,0,24,

,60,54,45,52,44,60,0,

[CLEAR]":POKE 198,5:POKE

633 ,87:POKE 634,13:POKE

0,0,

631

635,

255,255,

,78:POKE

131:end

,48

126

,90

60,

0,0

,126,189,

,24,36,102

54,45,52,

,0

632,69

Spider Rescue

0 POKE 52,29:POKE 56,29:CLR:S=-22:E=30720:S3=36876:V=36878

:POKE V,15:Z=7680:NA=2

1 DIM JS(2,2):POKE 37139,0:LL=37154:PA=37137:PB=37152

2 FOR 1=0 TO 2:FOR J = 0 TO 2:READ JS(J,I):NEXT J,I

3 DATA-23,-22,-21,-1,0,1,21,22,2 3

4 DEF FN X<R)=INT(RND(l)*451)+7702

5 F(0)=-21:F(l)=-22:F(2)=-23:F(3)=-l:F<4)=l:F(5)=21

:F(6)=22:F{7)=23

6 PRINT"[CLEAR]":POKE 36869,255:D=0:POKE 36881,125

7 POKE 36879,31:FOR 1=1 TO 22:PRINT"[UP,WHITE])";:NEXT

8 FOR 1=8164 TO 8185:POKE I,41:NEXT

9 FOR 1=1 TO 500:NEXT:FOR 1=1 TO 40

10 R=FN X(R):IF PEEK(R)<>32 THEN 10

11 POKE R,37:POKE R+E,INT(RND{1)*3)+2:NEXT I

12 FOR X=125 TO 24 STEP-1:FOR T=l TO 10:NEXT T

:POKE 36881,X:NEXT X

13 FOR J=l TO 500:NEXT J

14 FOR 1=0 TO NA

15 T(I)=FN X(R):IF PEEK(T(I))<>32 THEN 15

16 POKE T(I),35:POKE T(I)+E,.:POKE S3,200

17 FOR J=l TO 200:NEXT J:POKE S3,0:NEXT I

18 O=FN X(R):IF PEEK(O)<>32 THEN 18

19 POKE O,33:POKE O+E,5:FOR J=l TO 400:NEXT

20 FOR K=250 TO 128 STEP-2:POKE S3,K:NEXT K:POKE S3,0

21 IF D=40 THEN 74

22 Q=.:POKE LL,127:IF-( (PEEK(PB)AND 128)=.)THEN q=1

23 POKE LL,255:P=PEEK(PA)

24 IF-((P AND 8)=.)THEN Q=22

25 IF{(P AND 16)=.)THEN Q=-l

26 IF{(P AND 4)=.)THEN Q=-22

20 COMMODORE: POWER/PLAY Fall 19B3

27 IF-((P AND 32)=.)THEN 48

28 IF Q=0 THEN 34

29 S=Q

30 IF PEEK(O+Q)=41 OR PEEK(O+Q)=36 THEN 34

31 IF PEEK(O+Q)=37 THEN D-D+1:POKE S3,230:SC=SC+10:POKE S3f0

32 POKE O,32:O=O+Q:POKE O,33:POKE O + E,5

33 G=O-Z:Y=INT(G/22):C=G-Y*22

34 FOR 1=0 TO NA

35 G=T(I)-Z:H=INT(G/22):P=G-H*22

36 IF SF(I)>0 THEN SF(I)=SF(I)-1:POKE T(I),36

:POKE T(I)+E,2:GOTO 47

37 IF RND(1)>.7 THEN 43

38 R=0:IF H<Y THEN R=22

39 IF H>Y THEN R=-22

40 IF P<C THEN R=R+1

41 IF P>C THEN R=R-1

42 F=R:GOTO 44

43 R=INT(RND{1)*8):F=F(R)

44 IF PEEK(T(I)+F)=33 THEN 60

45 IF PEEK(T(I)+F)<>32 THEN 47

46 POKE S3,128:POKE T(I),32:T(I)=T(I)+F:POKE T(I),35:POKE T{I)+E,.:POKE S3,0

47 NEXT:GOTO 21

48 IF W>0 THEN 28

49 W=O+S:U=39:GOTO 51

50 POKE S3,220:POKE W,32:W=W+S:BU=BU+1:POKE S3,0

51 IF PEEK(W)=37 THEN POKE W,37:W=0:BU=0:GOTO 28

52 IF PEEK{W)=41 OR PEEK(W)=36 OR BU>10 THEN W=0:BU=0:GOTO 28

53 IF PEEK(W)=35 THEN 56

54 POKE W,U:POKE W+E,0

55 GOTO 50

56 FOR 1=1 TO 10

57 POKE S3,128:POKE W,36:POKE S3,200:NEXT:POKE 33,058 FOR 1=0 TO NA:IF W=T(I)THEN SF(I)=20:I=NA59 NEXT:W=0:GOTO 28

60 POKE TCI),32

61 FOR 1=1 TO 100

62 POKE O,33:POKE S3,128:POKE O,34:POKE S3,200:NEXT:POKE S3,0

63 NM=NM+1

64 IF NM=3 THEN FOR X=l TO 2000:NEXT X:FOR X=24 TO 125:POKE 36881,X:NEXT:GOTO 66



65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

GOTO 18

PRINT"[CLEAR]

PRINT"[DOWN5,

";:POKE 36869,

RVS7BLACK]YOUR

IF SOHSC THEN HSC=SC

PRINT"[D0WN2,

PRINT"[D0WN3,

[SPACE,RVS]Y[

:POKE 36881,X

GET R$:IF R$=

IF R$="Y"THEN

:POKE 36881,X

END

RED]HIGH[SPACE

240

[SPACE]SCORE:"SC

]SCORE:"HSC

MAGENTA]PLAY[SPACE]AGAIN?[SPACE]PRESS

RVOFF,SPACE]":

:NEXT

""THEN 71

SC=0:D=0:NM=0

:NEXT:GOTO 6

FOR X=125 TO 24 STEP-1

:FOR X=24 TO 125

FOR 1=1 TO 1000:NEXT:D=0:NM=NM-l:NA=NA+l

IF NM<3 THEN

GOTO 67

6

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VERSION OF

TYPING TUTOR

PLUS WORD INVADERS

NOW AVAILABLE FOR THE

COMMODORE64™...$21.95(rape)All of the features ol the VIC 2DrM Version and more

SPRITE

DESIGNER

by Dr. Lee T. Hill

$16.95<Tape)$21.95(DisJ0

Create and then iransfoim sprites automatically. We

have the other sprite making programs, but this is the

one we use to make sprites. Tne automatic transformations are great!

^^^^ Shipping and handling $1 00 per _ _

^55^ ofder California residents add 6% ^^^HaiM sales tax VISA and Mastercard ^BWorders musi include lull name as shown on card, card

number, and expiration dale. Free catalog sent with

order and on request

SOFW/4REP.O. Box 9403, San Rafael,CA 94912(4)5}499-0850

Programmers: Write to our Now Program Manager concerning any exceptlonal VIC 20TM or Commodore 61TH game or other program you have developed.


high scores

Up until recently we had been accepting scores

on the honor system. But we thought it was time to

start getting more official. So, from now on, in order

to have your high score published, you'll have to

send in a photo of the screen showing the score.

Don't forget—a simple polaroid will do it.

BLUE MEANIES

CAR CHASE

CLOWNS

COSMIC CRUNCHER

DRAW POKER

JUPITER LANDER

GORF

MIDNIGHT DRIVE

MOLE ATTACK

MONEYWARS

OMEGA RACE

PINBALL

RADAR RAT RACE

1,260

AlanS. Newman,

Fairfield, CT

90,440

Alan Howard,

Silver Lake, KS

12,360

Mark Fellows, Littleton, MA

503,610

Hermine Koch, Anoka, MN

17,410

R. Callia, Torrance, CA

207,400

Christopher Champlain,

St. Petersburg, FL

301,470

Tricia Muller, Lafayette, IN

14.11 km

Nathan Mehl, Newark, DE

368

Brian Gleason,

Concord, CA

65,110

John B. Crockford, Jr.,

Spencerville, OH

476,500 (5 ships)

Gary Kemper (photos in

hand, address unknown)

1,500,000

Joe Ferrari, Commodore,

Toronto

133,920

Danny Wessels,

Sykesville, MD

RAID ON

FORT KNOX

SEA WOLF

SKY IS FALLING

SLITHER

SUPER ALIEN

SUPER SLITHER

SUPER SLOT

SUPER SMASH

VIC AVENGER

29,500

Alieia Kondalski,

Toledo, OH

13,810

Rachel Koons,

Drexel Hill, PA

261

Amy Miles, Mt. Pleasant, MI

45,700

Robert Schaeffer,

Brookline, MA

167

David Goldberg,

Richardson, TX

7,306 coins

Jerry Krueger, Cary, IL

14,279

Eric Tang, Sterling

Heights, MI

If your score didn't set a record this time, keepplaying! Maybe you'll topple these championgamesters next time!


commodore user groups

User Group Listing.

ALABAMA

Hunisvtllc PET Users Club9002 Berdalr Road

Huntsville. AL 35802Contact: Hal Girey

Meetings: every 2nd

Thursday

ALASKA

COMPOOH-T

co Box 118

Old Harbor. AK 99643

(90712862213

ARIZONA

VIC Users Gioup2(512 E. CovinaMesa,AZ8S203

Contact Paul Muffuletto

Catalina Commodore Computer Club

2012 AvenidaGuillermoTucson. AZ 85710

[602) 296-6766

George Pope

lstTues. 7:30p.m.Metro Computer Store

Central Arizona. PET PeopleR42W.Calle del NorteChandler, AZ 85224

1602} 899-3622

RoySchahrer

ACUGc'o Home Computer Service2028WCamelbackRd

Phoenix. AZ 85015

(602)249-1186Dan DeaconFirst Wed. of monlh

West Mesa VIC

2351S. Standage

Mesa. AZ 85202KennethS. Epstein

Arizona VIC 20-64 Users Club232 W 9th Place North

Mesa. AZ 85201Donald Kipp

ARKANSAS

Commodore/PET User s Cl u bConway Middle SchoolDavis Street

Conway, AR 72032Contact Geneva Bowlin

Booneville64ClubtfoA. R. Hedertch

Elementary School401 W. 5th St

Boonevllle. AR 72927

Mary Tail

CALIFORNIA

SCPUG Southern California

PET Use rs Group

c'o Data Equipment Supply

Corp.

8315 Firestone Blvd.Downey. CA 90241

(213) 923-9361Meetings: Hist Tuesday of

each month

California VIC Users Group

c/o Data Equipment SupplyCorp.

8315 Firestone Blvd.

Downey, CA 90241(2131923-9361Meetings1 Second Tues. of

each monlh

Valley Computer Club

2006 Magnolia Blvd

Burbiurt. CA(213) 849-40941st Wed. 6p.m

Valley Computer Club

1913 Booth RoadCeres, CA 95307

PUG of Silicon Valley

22355 Rancho Ventura Road

Cupertino. CA 95014

Lincoln Computer Club750 E. Yosemlte

Manteca.CA 95336John Fung, Advisor

PET on the Aft525 Crestlake Drive

San Francisco, CA 94132

Ma*J Babin. Secretary

PALS (Pets Around)

Ltvermore Sodely

886 South KUvermore.CA 94550

(4151449-1084

Every third Wednesday7:30 p.m.

Contact: J Johnson

SPHINX

7615 Leviston Ave.EiCerrito,CA94S30(415) 527-9286

BUI MacCracken

San Diego PUGc/o D. Costarakis

3562 Union Streel(7 Ml 235-76267 a m.-4p.m.

Walnut Creek PET

Users Club1815 Ygnario ValleyRoad

Walnut Creek. CA 94596

Jjmpa Wizards

8700 Galena StRiverside, CA 92509781-1731Walter J.Scott

Tlie Commodore Connection

2301 Mission StSanta Cruz. CA 95060

(4081425-8054BudMassey

San Fernando Valley

Commodore Users Group212()ti Nashville

Chnlsworth, CA 91311

[213)709-4736

Tom Lynch2nd Wed. 7:30

VACUUM

277 E 10th Ave,Chka. CA 95926

(9161 891-8085Mike Casella

2nd Monday ol month

VIC 20 UsersGroup

2791McBrideLn. #121

SanLiHosa. CA(707) 575-9836

Tyson Verse

South Bay Commodore Users Group1402 W 218th St

Torrance, CA 90501

Contact Earl Evans

Slo VIC 20/64 Computer Club

17669th StLosOsos.CA

The Diamond Bar R.O.P. Users Club2644Amelgado

Haciendo Hols, CA 91745(213) 333-2645Don Mclntosh

Commodore Interest Association

c/o Computer Data

14660 La Paz Dr.

Victorville, CA 92392Mark Finley

Fairfield VIC ZO Club

1336McKlnleySt.Fairfield.CA 94533(707)427-0143

Al Brewer

1st & 3rd Tues. at 7 p m

Computer Bam Computer Club

319 Main Si.

Suite #2Salinas, CA 93901

7570788S. Maik Vanderbilt

Humboldt Commodore Group

PO. Box 570

Arcata,CA 95521R, Turner

Napa Valley Commodore

Computer Club

c/o liberty Computerware

2680Jefferson St.

Napa.CA 94558(707) 252-6281Mick Winter1st & 3rd Mon. of monlh

S.D. East County C-64 User Group6353 Lake Apopka Place

San Diego, CA 92119(619)698-7814

Linda Schwartz

Commodore Useis Group

4237 Pulmena Cl.

Santa Maria. CA 93455

(8051 937-4174Gilbert Vela

Bay Arai Home Computer Asso.

Walnut Creek Group

1406 N. Broadway a! CypressWalnut Creek. CA 94596

WilCossd

Sat 11a.m. to3p.m.

Amateurs and Artesians Computing

P.O. Bo* 682Cobb.CA 95426

Manieca VIC 20 Users Organization

429 N. Main St.Manteca, CA 95336

Gene Rong

Pomona Valley Vic Users Group

1401 W 9th. *77Pomona, CA 91766

(714) 620-8889

Mark Joerwr

1st & 3rd Wed, of month 7 p.m.

20/64 Users GroupP.O. Box 18473

SanJobe.CA%158

Don Cracraft

1st Sunday, 6 p.m., Mercury Sav

COLORADO

VICK1MPET UsersGroup

4 Waring Lane, Greenwood

Village

Littleton, CO 80121

Contact: Louis Rochrs

Colorado Commodore Computer Club2187 S. Golden Ct.Denver, CO H0227

986-0577

Jack MossMeet: 2nd Wed.

CONNECTICUT

JohnF. Garbanno

Skiff Lane Masons Island

Mystic. CT 06355(2031536-9789

Commodore User ClubWethersfield High School411WolcottHiirRoadWethersheld. CT 06109

Contact: Daniel G. Spaneas

VIC Users Club

c/o Edward Barszczewski

22 Tunnis RoadWest Hartford. CT 06107

New London County

Commodore Club

DoohKle RoadPic-ston, CT 06360

Contact: Dr. Walter Doollttle

FLORIDA

Jacksonville Area

PET Society401 Monument Road. * 177Jacksonville, H. 32211

Richard Prcstten6278SWMlh StreelMiami, FL 33144

South Florida

PET Users GroupDave Young

7170S.W. 11thWest Hollywood. FL 33023(305) 987-6982

VIC Users Club

c/o Ray Thlgpen

4071 Edgeivater DriveOrlando, FL 32804

PETs and Friends129NE44St

Miami. FL 33137

Richard Piumer

Sun Coast VICs

P.O. Box 1042Indian Rocks Beach, FL33535

Mark Wedddl

Bay Commodore Useis

Groupc/o Gulf Coast ComputerExchange

241N.TyndallPkwy.

PO. Box 6215Panama City. FL 32401

(9041785-&141

Richard Sconeld

Gainesville Commodore

Users Club3604-20ASW31slDr,

Gainesville, FL 32608Louis Wallace

64 Users GroupP.O. Box 561689

Miami. FL 33156

(305) 274-3501

Eydie Sloane


Brandon Users Group

lOSAnglewoodDr.Brandon. FL 33511

(813) 685-5138Paul Daugherty

Commodore 64/VIC 20 User GraupMartin Marietta Aerospace

P.O. Bos 5837. MP142Orlando, FL 32855

(3051352-3252/2266Mr. Earl Preston

Brandon Commndore Users Group414E. LumbdenRd.

Brandon, R 33511

Gainesville Commodore Users Group

Santa Fe Community CollegeGainesville, FL 32602

James E. Birdwll

Commodore Computer ClubPO. BOX2U38St. Petersburg, FL 33742

Commodore Users Group545 E. Park Ave.Apt #2

Tallahassee, FL 32301

(904) 224-6286Jim Neill

The Commodore ConnectionP.O. Box 6684

West Palm Beach. FL 33405

El Shift OHPO. Box 543Cocoa, FL 32922

Mlke5chnoke

Sal. mornings/every 4 lo 6 weeks

GEORGIA

VIC Educators Users GroupCherokee County Schools

110 Academy StCanton.GA 30114Dr. Al Evans

Bldg. 68, RETCGlynco. GA 31524Richard L Young

VIC-Bins

P.O. Bon 467052Atlanta, GA 30346(404) 922-7088

Eric Ellison

HAWAII

Commodore Users Group of Honolulu

c/oPSH824 Bannister St.

Honolulu, HI(808| 848-2088

3rd I-ri. every month

20/64 Hawaii

P.O. Box 966Kailua, HI 96734

Wes Goodpaster

IDAHO

GHS Computer Club

do Gramjeville High School9I0S.D5t.Grangcvillc. [D 83530Don Kisslnyer

S.R.HS Computer Club

c/o Salmon River H.S.

Rigglns, D 83549

Barney Foster

Commodore Users

548 E. CenterPocateQo, ID 83201

(208) 233-0670

Leroy Jones

Eagle Rock Commodore Users Group900 S. Emerson

Idaho Falls, ID 83401Nancy J. Picker

ILLINOIS

Shelly Wemikofl

2731 N. Milwaukee

Avenue

Chicago, IL 60647

VIC 20/64 Users SupportGroup

c/o David R. Tarvln114S Clark Street

Pana,IL 62557

(217) 562-4568

Central Illinois PET User

Group

635 MapleMt.Zion.IL 62549

(217)864-5320Contact-Jim Oldfield

ASM/TED User Group

200 S. Century

Rantoul, IL 61866(217| 893-4577

Con[act Brant Anderson

PET VIC Club (PVC)

40 S. LincolnMundelein. L6CO60Contact; Paul Schmidt.

President

Rocklord Area PET Users

Group1608Bonion Street

Rockford, L61107

Commodore Users Club

1707 East Main St.Olney.L 62450Contact: David E. Lawless

VIC Chicago Club

3822 N. Bell Ave.Chicago, IL 60618

John L. Rosengarten

Chicago Commodore 64

Users & Exchange. Group

PC Bok 14233

Chicago, IL 60614Jim Robinson

Fox Valley PET Users

Group833 Willow StLake In the Hills, IL 60102

(312)658-7321Art DcKneef

The Commodore 64 Users

GroupP.O. Box 572Glen Ellyn, [L 60137

(312) 790-4320Gus Pagnotta

Oak Lawn Commodore Users Group

The Computer Store11004 S. Cicero Ave.

Oak Lawn. IL 60453(312)499-1300

Bob Hughes

The Kankakee Hackets

RR#l.Box279

St. Anne, IL 60964(815)933-4407Rkh Westerman

INDIANA

PET/64 Users

10136 E. 96lh Si.

Indlanai>oll5. IN 46256

(317)842-6353

Jeny Brinson

Cardinal Sales

6225 Colfman Road

Indianapolis. IN 46268

(317)298-9650Contact: Carol Whueler

CHUG (Commodore

Hardware Users Group)

12 K)4 Meadow LaneOaklandon. IN 46236

Contact: Ted Powell

VIC Indy Club

P.O. Box 11543

Indianapolis. IN 46201

(317)898-8023Ken Ralston

Northern IndianaCommodore Enthusiasts

927 S. 26th St.

South Bend. IN 46615

Eric R Bean

Commodore Users Group

1020 Michigan Ave.

Logansport. IN 46947

(219) 722-5205

Mark Bender

Computer Workshop VIC 2*64 Club

282 S. 600 W.Hebron. IN 46311(219) 988-4535

Mary O'Bnnger

The National Science Clubs

of America

Commodore Users Division

7704 Tart SL

MerrllMlle, IN 46410

Brian Lepley or Tom Vlaslc

East Central Indiana VIC User Group

Rur.il Rouli- #2Portland, IN 47371

Stephen Erwin

National VIC 20 Program Excrnineje

102 Hickory Court

Portland, IN 47371

(219) 726-4202

Stephen Erwin

Commodore Computer Club3S14 Terra Trace

Evan5vllle.IN477ll

(812) 477 0739

John Patrick. PresidenI

IOWA

Commodore User Group

114 8th SL

Ames, 1A 50010

Quad City Commodore Club

1721 Grant St.Bettendorf. IA 52722

1319)355-2641

John Ylgas


965 2nd Si.Marion. IA VZLWl(319)377-5506

Vem Roten3rd Sun. of month

Siouxland Commodore Club

2700 Sheridan StSioux City. IA 51104

(712) 258-7903

Gary Johnson1st & 3rd Monday of month

SWaterloo. IA 50702[319)232-1062

Frederick Volker

Commodore Computer Users

Group of Iowa

Box 3140

LY>sMolnes,lA 50316(515) 263-CB6S or (51f.) 2H7-137RLaura Miller

KANSAS

Wichita Area PET

Users Group

2231 Bulllnger

Wichita, KS 67204[316)838-0518

Contact: Mel handler

Knnsas CommodoreComputer Club

101 S. BurchOlalhe.KS 66061Contact. Paul B Howard


6050S. IS3SL WestViola. KS 67149

Walter Lounsbery

Walnut Valley Commodore User Group

1003 S 2nd St.Arkansas Cily. KS 67005

Bob Morris

KENTUCKY

VIC Connection

1010 S. Elm

Henderson. KY 42420Jim Kemp

LOUISIANA

Franklin Parish Computer

Club

#3 Fair Ave.

Wlnnisboro.LA71295

James D. Mays, Sr.

NOVA917 Gordon St.New Orleans, LA 70117

(604] 94H-7643

Kenneth McGruder, Sr.

VIC 20 Users Group

5064BowdonSt

Marrcro, LA 70072

(504)341-5303Wayne D. Lowery. R N

MARYLAND

Assoc. of Personal

Computer Users

5014RodmanRoad

Bethesda, MD 20016

Blue TUSK

700 East Joppa Road

Baltimore. MD 21204

Contact Jim Hauff

House ot Commodore

8H35 Satyr Hill Road

Baltimore, MD 21234

Contact. Ernest J. Fischer

Long Lines Computer Club

323N.CharlesSt,Rm.2OlBaltimore. MD 21201

Gene Mori

COMMODORE: POWEFVPLAY Fall 1983 25


VlC&64UsersGroupThe Boyds Connection

21000 Clarksburg Rd

Boyils.MD 20841(3fflJ428-3174Tom DeRengi

VIC 20 Users Gioup

23 Coventry Lane

Hegerstawn, MD 21740Joseph Rutkowski

Hayerstown Users Group

120L-BMrtis.ri.ill St.Hagerstmvn.ML>2l740

1301)700-0968

Greg StewartIsi&HtdPrldayof month 6:30p.m

Rockville VIC/64 Users Group

5112 Parklawn Terrace

Apl #103

Rockvl!le.MD20853001)231-7823Tom Pounds

The Compucals' CommodoreComputer C]ub

6S0 W Bel Air Ave

Aberdeen, MD 21001

(301)272 0472

Betty Jane Schueler

MASSACHUSETTS

Eastern Massachusetts

VIC Users Group

c/o Frank Ordway

7 Flayij Rood

Ma.lbom, MA 02173

VIC Users Groupc/o Ilene Hoftman-Sholar

193 Garden St.

Needham, MA 02192


Stouginon High SchoolStouyhlon. MA 02072

Contact Mikf Lcnnon

Borkshlm PET LoversCBM Usess Gioup

Taconic HighPinsfMd. MA 1)1201

The Boslon ComputerSociety

Three Center Plaza

Boslon. MA 02108(617) 367-8080Mary E McCann

VIC Inierface Clubc/o Procter & Gamble Inst. Shop

7M0 Washington St.Quincy. MA 02169

C. Gary Hall

'■1 .. i Commodore Users Group

P.O. Box 307

Bait Taunton, MA 02718David Rogers

Raytheon Commodore Users GroupRaytheon Company

Hartwell Rd. GRA-6

Bedford. MA 01730John Rjdy

Commodore 64 UsersGroup of Tlie Berkshlies

184 Highland Are.

Pittsfleld. MA 01201

Ed Rucinski

VIC Users Club

University ol Michigan

School ol Public Health

Ann Arbor, Ml 48109

Contact: John Cannon

Commodore User Club

32303 Columbus DriveWarren, Ml 48093

Contact: Robert Steinbrec her

Commodore Users Groupc/o Family Computer

3947 W 12 Mile Rd.

Berkley. Ml 48072

W Michigan VIC 20-64 Users

1311 Portland NEGrand Rapids, MI 49505

(616) 459-7578Jim D'Haem

VIC (or Business

6027 Orchard Ct

Lansing. Ml 48910Mike Marolls

South Computer Club

South Jr. High School45201 OwenBdlevffle.MI 48111Ronald Ruppert


co Eaton Rapids Medical Clinic

101 Spicerville Hu^r.

Ealon Rapids. Ml 48827

Albert Meinke HI. M D

South East Michigan PetUsers Group

Bon 214Farmlrajton, Ml 181)24

Noun BsunbErg

Commodore Computer Club4106 Easiman Rd.

Midland. Ml 48640

(517)835-5130

John Walleu9:30 p.m. Sept/May

VIC. 64. PET Users Group

tM3yAlRdUnion Lake. Ml 4H0M5363-5539

Bert Seanng

VIC Commodore User Club

486 Michigan Ave.Mariesviile. Ml 48040

(3131364-6804M. Gauthier

ComputerTown*'35171 Grand RiverFarmlmiton, Ml 48024

I3I3)471'1216

MINNESOTA

MUPET (Minnesota Usersof PET)

PO. Box 179

Annandale. MN 55302

c/oJonT Minerich

T\uin ClUes CommodoreComputer Club

6623 lues LaneMaple Grove, MN 55369

(612)424-2425Conlact Rollle Schmidt

MISSOURI

KCPUG

5214 Blue Ridge Boulevard

Kansas City, MO 64133Contact: Rick Wesl(816)356-2382

Commodore UserGroupolSl Louis

Box 6653

St. Louis. MO 63125-0653Dan Weidman. New Members

1541 Swallowtail DrSt Louis. MO 63144

314-968-4409

U1CINFONET

P.O. Box 1069

Branson, MO 65616

[417)334-6099

Jory Sherman

Worth County PET Users

Group

Grant City, MO

(816) 564-3551David Hardy

Mid-Missouri Commodore Club1804VandiverDr.

Columbia. MO 65201

(314)474-4511

Phil Bishop

MONTANA

Powder River

Computer ClubPowder River County

High School

Broadus, MT 59317

Contact: Jim Sampson

Commodore User CEuh

1109 West Broadway

Burte.MT 59701

Contact. Mike McCarthy

NEBRASKA

Greater Omaha Commodore 64Users Group

2932 Leawood Dr.

Omaha. NE 68123

(402) 292-2753

Bob Quisenl jerry

NEVADA

Las Vegas PET UsersSuite 5-315

5130 E Charleston Blvd

Us Vegas, NV 89122Gerald Hasty

NEW JERSEY

Amateur Compuler Group

ISAIpineDnveWayne, NJ 07470

Somerset Users Club49 Marcy Street

Somerset. NJ 08873

Contact. Robert Holier

Educators Advisory

PO. Box 186

Mcdford. NJOHOfifi

(609)953-1200John Handfield

Parsippany Computer Group51FemcliffRd.

Morris Plains, NJ 07950

(201)267-523!Bob Searing

VIC-TIMES46 Wayne Street

Edison, NJ08B17

Thomas R Molnar

VIC 20 User Group

67 Ostler Ave.W. Caldwell, NJ 07006

(201)284-2281G. M. Amin

VIC Software Development Club77 Fomalhaul Ave.

Sewell. NJ 080B0

H. P. Rosenberg

ACGNJ PET/VIC/CBM

User Group

30 Rhentew Ten.

Belle Mead. NJ 08502

(201)359-3862

J. M. Pylka

South Jersey Commodore Compuler

Users Club

46-B Monroe Park

Maple Shade. NJ 08052

(609) 667-9758

Mark Orthner

2ndFri of month

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Northern Mew England

Computer Society

P.O. Box 69

Berlin. NH 03570

TBH VIC-NICsPO. Box 981

Salem, NH 03079

NEW MEXICO


6212 Karison. NE

Albuquerque,NM 87113

(505)821-5812Danny Byrne

NEW YORK

Capital District 64/VIC 20Users Group363 Hamilton St.

Albany, NY 12210

(518)436-1190Bill Pizer

Long Island PET Society

Ralph BresslerHarborfields HS

Taylor AvenueGreenlawn. NY 11741)

PET User Clubof Westch ester

P.O. Box 1280

White Plains. NY 10602

Contact Ben Meyer

LIVE (Long Island

VIC Enthusiasts)

17 Picadilly RoadGreat Neck. NY 11023

Contact. Arnold Friedman

Commodore Masters

25 Croton Ave.Slaten Island, NY 10301

Contact: Stephen Farkouh

VIC Users Club

76 Radford St.

Staten Island, NY 10314

Contact: Michael Frantz

Rockland County CommodoreUsers Group

cyo Ross Garber

14 Hillside Court

SuHem. NY 10901(914)354-7439

West Chester County VICUsers Group

RO. Box 146Pelham, NY 10552

Joe Brown

SPUG

4782 Boston Post Rd.


Pflham, NY 10S03

Paul Skipski

VIC 20 User Club

151-28 22nd Ave.

Whltestone. NY 11357

Jean F. Coppola

VIC 20 User Club

339 Park Ave.

Babylon, NY 11702

1516)665-9126

Gary Overman

VIC User Group

125(1 Ocean Aw.Brooklyn. NY 11230

1212)859-3030

Dr. Levin

L&M Computer Club

VIC 20 & 64

4 Clinton St.

Tully. NY 13159

[3151 696-8904

Dick Mlc kelson


1 Corwln PI.

Like Katrine. NY 12449J. Hit hard Wrighl

VIC 20/Cnmmodore 64Users Group

31 Maple Dr.

Lndenhursi. NY 11757

(516]957-1512

Pelt Lobol

VIC Information Exchange

Club

336 W. 23 St.

Deer Park, NY 11729

Tom Schlegd

SASii & phone please

New York Commodore

Users Group

380 Riverside Dr.. 7QNew York, NY 10025

(2121566-6250

BenTunkelang

Hudson Valley Commodore Club

1 Manor Dr.

Woodstock. NY 12498

F.S. Goh1st Wednesday of month

UV1C5 (Long Island VIC Society)

20 Spyglass Lane

East Setauket. NY 11733

(516)751-7844

Lawrence1 Stelanl

VIC Users Groupc/o Stoney Brook Learning Center1424 Slon™ Brook Rd

Stoney Brook, NY 11790

(516)751-1719Robert Wurtzel

Poughkeepsle VIC User Group2 Brooklands Farm Rd.

Poughkeensie. NY 12601

(9I4> 462-4518

Joe Steinman

VIC 20 User Group

Paper Service Division

Kodak Park

Rochester. NY 14617

David Upham. Sr.

Manliatten 64

426 West 48th

Now York. NY 10036

(212)307-6519Charles Honcc

Adirondack Commodore 64 Users Group OREGON205 Woodlawn Ave.

Saratoga Springs, NY

15181 584-8960Paul Klumpas

NORTH CAROLINA

NWPET Users Group

JolinF Jones

213*1 N.E. 45th AvenuePortland. OR 97213

Amateur Radio PET Users Group

PO. Box 30694

Raleigh. NC 27622Contact: HankRoih

VIC Users Club

c/o David C. Fonenberry

Route 3.Box 351Llncolnton. NC 28092

Microcomputer Users ClubBox 17142 BethabaraSta

Winsion-Salern, NC 27116Jot] D. Brown

VIC Users ClubRl. 11, B™ 686

Hickory, NC 2860]

Tim Gromloults

OHIO

Dayton Area PETUser Group

933 Livingston Drive

Xema, OH 45385

B, Worby, President

(513)848-2065J Watson. Secretary

(513)372-2052

Central Ohio PF.TUsers Group

107 S. Westmoor Avenue

Columbus. OH 43204(6141274-6451

Contact Philip H Lynch

Commodore Computer Club ol Toledo

734 Donna DriveTemperance, Ml 48182

Gerald Carter

Chilllcolhe Commodore

Users GroupPO. Box211

Chilllcothc, OH 45601William A. Chaney

Licking Counry 64 Users Group

323 Schuler St.

Newark. OH 43055(614i34j-1327

11433 Pearl Rd.

Snongsville,OH44136

Paul M. Warner

OKLAHOMA

Soulhwest Oklahoma

Computer Clubc/o Commodore Chapter

P.O. Box 6646

Liwton, OK 73504

1:30 at Lawton City Library

Tulsa Area Commodore Users Group

Tulsa Computer Society

P.O. Box 15238

Tulsa. OK 74112

Annette Mlnshaw

Commodore Oklahoma Users Club

1000 NW 14th St.

Oklahoma City, OK 73107(405) 'M3-1370

Slanley B. Dow

Commodore Users

Box 268

Oklahoma City, OK 73101

Monte Maker, President

PENNSYLVANIA

PET User GroupGene Beats

P.O. Box 371

Montgomeryville. PA 18936

Penn Conference Computer Club

c/o Penn Conference of SDA

720 Museum Road

Reading. PA 19611

Contact Dan R. Knepp

PACS PET Users Group

20th&OlneySts.Philadelphia. PA 19141

[2151951-1258

Stephen Longo

Glen Schwartz

B07 Avon

Philadelphia. PA 19116

Genir Planehak

1820 Anne Lane

Sh.irpsville, PA 15150

(412)962-9682

PPG (Pittsburgh PET Group)

c/o Joel A. Casar.DMD

2015 Garrick Drive

Pittsburgh. PA 15Z35

(412)371-2882Westmoreland Commodore

Users Club

c/o DJ & Son Electronics

Colonial Plaza

Latrobe, PA 15650

Jim Mathars

COMPSTARS440 Manatawny St.

Pottslown, PA 19464

LinyShupinski, Jr.

Meet at Audio Video

Junction


3021 Ben Venue Dr.

Greensburg. PA 15601

(412)836-2224

Jim Malhers

VIC 20 Programmers, Inc.

c/o Watson Woods

115 Old Spnng Rd.

Coatesvllle, PA 19320

Robert Gougher

G.R.C. User Club

300 Whitlm Hollow Rd.Nflw Kensington, PA 15068

Bill Bolt

NADC Commodore Users Club

24HOakdaleAue.

Horsham, PA 19044

Norman McCrary

CACC (CapilolArea Commodore

Club)

134 College Hill Rd

Enola. PA 17025

17171732-2123

Lewis Buttery

Union Depcsil Mall at 7 p.m.

G/C Computer Owners Group

c/o Gilbert Associates, Inc.

P.O. Box 1498

Reading. PA 19607

Extension 6472

Jo Lambert (215) 775-2600

Boeing Employees PersonalComputer Club

The Boeing Vertol Co.P.O. Box 16858

Philadelphia. PA 19142(215)522-2257

Jim McLaughlin

Soulh Central PA Commodore Club

2109 Cedar Run Dr.Camp Hill. PA 17011

(717)763-4219

David Persing

Main Line Commodore Users Group

(MLCUG)

c/o Main Une Computer Cenler

1046 General Allen Lane

West Chester. PA 19380

(215)388-1581

Emil Vol check

PUERTO RICO

CUG of Puerto Rico

HFD#l.Boxl3San Juan, PR 00914

K.'n IJurch

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655 Hernandez St.Mlramar. PR 00907

Robot Morales, Jr

RHODE ISLAND

Irving B. Silverman. CPA

ifjOTatinton Ave.E. Providence. RI02914

Contact: Michelle Chauanne

Newport VIC64 Users

lOMsitlandCt.Newport, HI 02840

(401) 849-2684

Dr. Malt McConeghy

The VIC 20 Users Club

Warwick, RI 02886

Tom Davey

SOUTH CAROLINA

Beaufort Technical College

100S. RibautRd.

Beaufort, SC 29902

Dean of Insttucnon

Computer Users Society

of Greenville

Horizon Records-Home Computers

347 S. Pteasantburg Dr.Greenville, SC 29607(803) 235-7922

Bo Jeanes

Commodore Computer Club ol Columbia

318 Quincannon Dr.Columbia, SC 29210

Buster While Sect/Treas

SOUTH DAKOTA

PET User Group515 South Duff

Mitchell, SD 57301

[605)996-8277

Contact: Jim Dallas

VIC/64 Users Club

608 West 5th

Pierre, SD 57501

(605)224-4863Larry Lundee n

TENNESSEE

River City Computer

Hobbyists

Memphis, TN

lstMon at Main Library



Nashville Commodore Users Group

RO. Box 121282Nashville. TN 37212

3rdThurs at Cumberland Mus

Commodore User Club

Metro Computer Center

1800 Dayton Blvd.Chattanooga. TN 37405

Mondays 7j30 pm

Melro-Knoxviile 64 Users Club740r>OxmoorRd.,Rt. #20

Knoxvllle.TN 37921

(615) 938-3773

Ed Printed

TEXAS

SCOPE

1030 Summit Circle

Carrolton.TX 75006

PET Users2001 Bryan Tower

Suite 3800

Dallas. TX 75201

Larry Williams

PO. Box 652

San Antonio. TX 78293

PET User Group

John BowenTexas A & MMicrocomputer Club

TexasA&M.TX

CHUG (Commodore Houston

Users Group)8738 WildforestI louston. TX 77098

(713]999-365O

Conlacl. John Walker

Corpus Christ Commodores

3650 Topeka SLCorpus Christi. TX 78411

1512] 852-7665Bob McKelvy

Commodore Users Group5326 Cameron Rd.

Au«ln. TX 7872315121459-1220

Dr .Ic-rry D. Frazec

VIC Users Group

381764th Dr.

Lubbock.TX 79413

Southeast Houston ViC

Users Group1 \<\T.\ Kiik Valley Dr.

Houston. TX 77089

(713)481-6653

64 Users Group2421 Midnight Circle

Piano. TX 75075

S G Grodin

Savid Computer Club

312 West Alabama

Suite 2Houston. TX 77006

Davl Jordan. Chairman

Gull Coast Commodore Users GroupP.O. Box 128

Corpus Chiisll. TX 78403

(512)887-4577

Lawrence I lemondezMid-Cities Commodore Club

413 Chlsolm Trail

Hurst. TX 76053

Garry Wordetman

UTAH

Ulah PUGJack Reck

2236 Washington BlvdOgden, UT 84401

The Commodore Users

Club742 Taylor Avenue

Ogden, UT 8*10-1Contact: Todd Woods Kap,

PresidentDavid J. Shreeve,

Vice President

Th« VICIIc799 Ponderoia Drive

Sandy, UT 84070Contact Steve Graham

VIC 20 Users

324 N. 300 W.

Smlthfield. UT 84335Dave DeCorso

Northern Utah VIC &: 64

Users GroupP.O. Box 533

Garland. UT 84312David Sanders

The Commodore Users Group

652 West 700 North

C1earfie]d.UT84015

(801)776-3950

Rodney Keller, Richard Brenchly

VIRGINIA

Northern VA PET UsersBob Karpen

2045 Eakins Court

Reston.VA 22091

(803)860-9116

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Lynchburg.VA24501

Contact Dick Rossignol

VIC Users Group

c'o Donnle I- Thompson15021 larvard Rd.

Richmond, VA 23226

i)ale City Commodore

User Group

RO. Box 2004Dale City. VA22193

(703) 680-2270James Hogler

Tidewater CommodoreUsers Group

1'J17WcstgtoveRdVirginia Beach. VA23455

Fred Monson

Frede n cksb u rg Area

Computer Enthusiasts

PO. Box 324

Locust Grove. VA22508(703)972-7195Michael Parker

Commonwealth 20/'64Users Group

1773 Walnwriyht Dr.

Reston.VA 22090(703)471-6325

Tal Caraw.in. Jr.

VIC 20 Victims

4301 Columbia Pike #410

Arlington. VA 22204

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Users Group

124 Bumham RaceNewport News. VA 23606

1804} 595-7315Richard G Wilmoth

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NW PET Users Group

2565 Dexter N. 3203Seattle, WA 98109

Contact' Richard Ball

PET Uwrs Group

c/o Kenneth Tony

1800TaylorAve.N102

Seattle, WA 98102

Whidbey Island Commodore

Computer Club

947 N. Burroughs Ave.

Oak Harbor. WA 98277

Michael D. Clark

Centra] Washington


1222 S lstStYakima, WA9B9O2Tim McElroy

Blue Mountain Commodore

Users Club

667 Canary Dr.Walla Walla. WA 99362

(509) 525-5452

Keith Rodw

Spokane Commodore User Group

N. 4311 Wi.ltehouse

Spokane. WA 99205

(509)328-1464Slan White

WEST VIRGINIA

Personal Computer Club

P.O. Box 1301Charleston. WV 25325

Cam Cravens

WISCONSIN

Sewpus

c/oTheodoreJ PolozynskiP.O. Box21851

Milwaukee. Wl 53221

Waukesha Area Commodore

UserGroup(WACUG)

2561/; W. Broadway

Waukesha, Wl 53186

Contact: Waller Sadler(414) 547-9391

Commodore User Group

1130 Elm Grove St.

Elm Gww, Wl 53122Tony Hunter

Commodore 64 Software

Exchange GroupP.O. Box 224

Oregon, Wl 53575

E. J. Rosenberg

CLUB. 846156 Douglas Ave.Caledonia, Wl 53108

(414) 835-4645 pm

Jack White

2nd Silt every month 10.00 am

VIC-2U& 64 User Group

522WestBergenDr.

Milwaukee. Wl 53217

(414) 476-8125Mr. Wachtl

Menomonlf Area Commodore

Users Group

510 12th StMenomonle, Wl 54751

(715) 235-4987Mike Williams

CU.S.S.H.

3614 Sovereign Dr

Racine. Wl 53406(414)554-0156

Tim Trammel3rd Saturday ol month

WYOMING

Commodore Users ClubC/oVideoSladon670 h'orth 3rd #B

Laramie.WY 82070

(3071721-5908

Pamela Nash

CANADA

Toronto PET

Users Group381 Lawrence Ave. West

Toronto, Ontario. CanadaM5M 1B9(416)782-9252

Contact: Chris Benneit

PET Users Club

c/o Mr Brown

Valley Heights Secondary School

Box 159

Langton, Ont. NOE 1G0

Vancouver PET Usurs Group

PO Box 91164

West Vancouver, BritishColumbiaCanada V7V3N6

CCCC (Canadian

Commodore Computer Club)

c/o Strictly Commodore47 Coachwood Place

Calgary, Alberta. CanadaT3H1E1

Contact. Roger Olanson

W.P.U.G.9-300 Ennlsklllen Ave.

Winnipeg, Manlloba R2V0H9

Liny Neufold

VIC-TIMS

2-830 Helena St.Trail, British Columbia

V1R3X2

(604) 368-9970

GregGoss

Arva Hackers

Medway High School

Arva, Ontario N0M 1C0

D. Lerch

Nova Scotia CommodoreComputer Users Group

66 Landrace Cres.

Dartmouth. N.S.B2W2P9

Andrew Cornwall

Bonnyvlllc VIC CursorsBox 2100

Bonnyvlllu, Alberta TOA OL0(403) N26-3992

Ed Wlttchen

r INLAND

VIC-Club In Helsinki

c/o Mattl Aamio

Linnustajankj 2B7SF-02940 ESPOO 94

Finland


GERMANY

Keticnbeig 24

D SHHO Luecten ScheldWest Germanv

Rudl Ferrari

ITALY

Commodore 64 ClubUnluersita di Studi 5ban

V. Auigllana 13/1

10138 TORINOITALY

KOREA


K P.O. Bo* 1437Scout. KoreaConlacU S. K. Cha

MEXICO

Asodadon De Usarios

Commodore

c/o Alejandro LopezArecblgaHolbein 174-6° Plso

Mexico 18. D.K

Club d« Usarlos CommodoreSigma del NoneMol del Valle. Local 44

Garza Garda. N.L. 66220

NEW ZEALAND

Commodore Uwrs Group

Meela! VHF GubroomsHazel Ave.

Mount Roskill3rd Wed. of month. 7:30 pm

Roger Alien* 278-5262

Nelson VIC Users Group

c/o P.O. Box 860

Nelson. NewZeabndPe lor Archer

ER. Kennedy

c/o New Zealand SyntheticFuels Corp. Lid.Privale Bag

New Plymoulh

NORWAY

VIC Club of Norway

NudreBankegtlO.

lTBOHaldeoNorway

UNITED KINGDOM

North London HobbyComputer Club

Dcpt. of Electronics &CommunlmHonsEngineering

The Polytechnic ol NorthLondonHolloway Rd.

London N7 8DB

Croydon Mlaocomputer ClubHISelhursiR.

Selhursl. London SE25 6LH01-653-3207

Vemon GiHord

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Contact: John Beadle

212 So. 28th

UCrosse,WI 54601(608) 782-1186

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poke into peek


no more pencils,

no more books-

Interactive LOGOby David Malmherg

Let's continue the exploration of

LOGO for the Commodore 64 that we be

gan in the last issue of Power/Play. In

this installment we'll explore LOGO'S

capabilities to interact with people and

how this interaction may be used as an

aid to learning. Specifically, we'll develop

two interactive LOGOprograms that fa

cilitate the learning ofsome valuable

concepts and allow the student to have

fun at the same time. The first program

will be a real-time drawing program

calledINSTANTDRAW, which is the

LOGO equivalent ofthe popular toy

Etch-A-Sketch. The secondprogram

will be a variation ofCommodore's com

putergame Jupiter Lander, which Ihave

renamed LOGO Lander for obvious

reasons.

INSTANTDRAWIn this program we want to provide an easy way

to let a child (of any age) draw using LOGO'S great

graphics. We want the program to be highly interac

tive by having each drawing command require just a

single keystroke. We also want the drawings to be in

real-time so that the artist can draw instantly without

having to resort to writing a program. INSTANT

DRAW can therefore be used by kids as young

as three or four to become familiar with the 64's

keyboard, to help develop hand-eye coordina

tion, to develop artistic capabilities and eventually

to enhance problem-solving skills.

The INSTANTDRAW program lets you control

the movement of LOGO'S turtle and with it draw in

stantly on the 64's screen. You control the drawing

with these keys:

R—rotates the turtle's heading to the right

L—rotates the heading to the left

U—lifts the turtle's pen up to stop drawing

D—puts the pen down to draw on the screen

C—clears the screen and lets you start over

0,1,2,... ,9 set the length of the turtle's pen

strokes

In a program like this it is important to keep input

and output simple to make the Commodore 64 as

interactive as possible. This is especially true when

you are writing something to be used by children

whose keyboard and reading skills are just devel

oping. Typically this is done by making maximum

use of graphics and pictures for output and by

keeping keyboard input to a minimum number of

strokes. To simplify input in BASIC, reading the

keyboard is best handled by a GET command that

does not require a RETURN key after each entry.

To perform this same simplified input in LOGOyou must write your own procedure like this:

TO

END

GET.KEY

IF RC?

OUTPUT

OUTPUTii

BEADCHARACTER

When you want to get the image of a key that

may have been pressed, you use a GET.KEY com

mand in your LOGO program. This procedure will

output the character image for the key, if one has

been pressed, and a "null" character otherwise. This

procedure works because RC?, a predefined LOGO

routine (called a LOGO primative), outputs a value

of true or false, indicating the presence or absence

of a character in the keyboard input buffer. If true,

the OUTPUT READCHARACTER part of the sec-

30 COMMODORE: POWER/PLAY Fall 19B3

ond line causes that character image to be output by

the procedure and the procedure terminates sincean output has been generated. If false, there is no

character in the input buffer and the third line outputs a null character.

Now let's see how to use this procedure to readthe keys needed to generate the interactive drawingcommands described above.

TO COMMAND

MAKE "KEY

CLEARINPUT

IF :

IF :

IF :

IF :

IF :

IF :

TEST

KEY =

KEY =

KEY =

KEY =

KEY =

KEY =

GET.K

"

"R

11L

11U

"D

"C

NUMBER?

IFFALSE STOP

MAKE

END

"STEP

STOP

RIGHT 30 STOP

LEFT 30 STOP

PENUP STOP

PENDOWN STOP

SET.UP STOP

:KEY

KEY

The TO COMMAND gives the title for this new

procedure so that whenever we want to check for

commands from the keyboard we can just have the

word COMMAND in our program. The second line

of this procedure causes the variable KEY to have

the value of whatever key has been pressed (if

any) as outputted by our procedure GET. KEY.

CLEARINPUT clears the keyboard input buffer so

keyboard commands do not get "stacked up" be

fore they can be processed by the program. This is

essentially a house-keeping LOGO command.

The fourth command says "If the current value

of KEY {the colon preceding KEY indicates the

variable's current value) is a null character then

STOP this procedure." In this context, a STOP is

like a RETURN command in BASIC. It causes the

subroutine or procedure to be instantly terminated

and control of the program to return to wherever it

was before it began to execute the procedure.

The fifth line tests for an "R" key being pressed

and causes the drawing turtle to rotate its heading

30 degrees to the right. The next command causesa similar shift to the left if an "L" key is pressed.

Similarly, if a "U" or "D" is pressed the next two

commands raise or lower the turtle's pen. If "C" is

pressed the SETUP procedure (to be described

shortly) clears the screen and allows the INSTANT-

DRAW artist to begin with a clean canvas.

The TEST NUMBER? ;KEY in the fourth from the

last line tests whether the key pressed is a digit fromzero to nine. If it is, a "truth flag" is set to true. The

next command then tests this flag and STOPs if it is

false, i.e., the key is not a digit. Otherwise the next

command makes the digit pressed the new value for

the variable STEP.

To translate these keyboard commands into mo

tion, we can use the following simple procedure:

TO

END

MOVE

FORWARD

COMMAND

MOVE

:STEP

This procedure has only three instructions in its

body The first causes the turtle to move forward

along its current heading a distance equal to the

current value of STEP. In the COMMAND proce

dure you will recall that STEP will have a value rang

ing from zero (i.e., no movement at all) to nine

(fairly long "brush strokes.") If the pen is down, the

turtle will draw as it moves. The next instruction

causes the COMMAND procedure, as described

above, to be executed. The last instruction is a recur

sive call to MOVE itself that begins the whole move

ment loop again.

To add the finishing touches to INSTANTDRAW

we just need two more short procedures. The first is

SETUP which initializes the variable STEP at the

beginning of the program to zero—so the turtle be

gins by staying in his HOME position awaiting your

first keystroke command SETUP also contains

DRAW, a LOGO primative, which clears the screen

and HOMEs the turtle, and FULLSCREEN, another

primative, which assures that the turtle can draw

COMMODORE: POWEFVPLAY Fall 1983 31

no more pencils,

no more books...

everywhere. Specifically, we have:FIGURE 1

TO SET.UP

MAKE "STEP 0

DRAW

FULLSCREEN

END

The last procedure is called INSTANTDRAW and

it is the one executed to start the entire program:

TO INSTANTDRAW

SET.UP

MOVE

END

Notice that when INSTANTDRAW is executed

it calls SET. UP and MOVE. MOVE is executed

over and over again by recursive calls to itself, and

SETUP is not executed again unless a "C" is hit in

the COMMAND procedure to clear the screen and

begin a new drawing.

The clearest way to see how these procedures

fit together and to see what procedures call or

reference what other procedures is by construct

ing a procedure diagram or, as it is sometimes called,

a procedure tree. Figure 1 is a procedure diagram

for INSTANTDRAW. In the diagram, each proce

dure shows the procedures that it references just

below it, starting with the one called first on the leftmost side. Notice the "circular" reference to MOVE

to indicate recursion.

Typically, when developing a LOGO program,

you will find it helpful to sketch out an overall

procedure diagram to identify the specific tasks

or procedures to be programmed and to clearly

understand the sequence and the relationship

between these individual procedures. This process

is sometimes called top-down design. After you

have produced this top-down overview you will

tend to program the individual tasks from the

bottom-up—with separate testing of each procedure

INSTANTDRAW

SETUP

COMMAND

GET.KEV

as you go along to assure that each does what it is

supposed to do.

LOGO LanderThe procedure diagram for LOGO Lander is

given in Figure 2 and the listing is at the end of the

article. The program uses a few more LOGO tricks

and some new commands (see the Commodore 64

LOGO reference manual) but the overall ideas

and structure for interactivity are quite similar to

INSTANTDRAW and are fairly straightforward.

At first blush, LOGO Lander appears to be a

straightforward game. You try to land your com

mand module (represented by the turtle's triangle

shape) on the planet LOGO without crashing. But

this game is really a vehicle for teaching a great

deal more than just hand-eye coordination. LOGO

Lander teaches many principles of Newtonian phys

ics in a painless and even fun manner. By playing

the game, the student leams about resultant forces,

the laws of motion, gravity and even about some

of the perils of space travel.


The game is simple to play but can be very dif

ficult to master. Your mission is to land your com

mand module as close to the landing site at the

bottom of the screen as possible. You get points

for your touchdown's distance from the target, the

speed of your flight, and the softness of your land

ing. There are three possible skill levels, which in

fluence the amount of gravitational pull you have

to contend with and the degree of finesse required

to avoid a crash landing. My personal best score is

1761 points for a soft landing 5 miles from the target

obtained during a 35 second flight. To be honest, I

also have many scores of minus 1000 points or less

for more distant crash landings.

Just as in Commodore's Jupiter Lander, your

command module has a main rocket that moves

you forward on your current heading, and two side

rockets that cause you to move sideways. These

rockets are controlled by the following keys:

A—blasts module toward left

S—blasts module forward

D—blasts module toward right

0 to 9—changes rocket blast force

You may also hit "R" and "L" to shift the direction

your command module is heading. This will obvi

ously change the directional effect of any subse

quent rocket blasts.

When piloting your module in deep space (i.e.,

Continued on page 60

FIGURE 2

LANDER

EXPLOSION

,,,„>,,-,,, ...... %


The room Is a large cavern full of broken stone. The walls are scorched

and there are deep scratches on the floor. A sooty dry smell is very strong

here. A paved path winds from a small passage to the west, through theroom, and across a cyclopean stone bridge to the south. To (he east a small

crack Is visible. A dark and smokey tunnel leads north.

A huge red dragon is lying here, blocking the entrance to a tunnel lead

ing north. Smoke curls from his nostrils and out between his teeth.

Your sword has begun to glow very brightly.

Listen to Dragon

The huge red dragon makes no sound.

The dragon looks bored.

Talk to Dragon

The dragon looks amused. He speaks in a voice so deep

you feel rather than hear it, but the tongue Is unknown

to you. You feel almost hypnotized.

The dragon continues to watch you carefully.

—Zork

BY DIANE LE BOLD

If you like mystery novels, fantasygames or logic puzzles and are willing to

submit to the sometimes weird sense of humor

3f a mildly deranged programmer, then you are likely

material for adventuring. In addition to the Scott

Adams adventures already available for the VIC 20,

Commodore has expanded its product line to include

adventure games for the Commodore 64, including Zork,

Deadline, Suspended and Starcross. So 64 users can

now enter these fascinating worlds, where you partic

ipate in—and affect—what happens. But even

though they're just fantasies, there is one real-

life danger involved in playing adventure

games—your friends and relatives may

not see you for months.

To tell you the truth, I'd rather be

chasing down Mr. Coates, who left

the Robner house rather abruptly

yesterday, just shortly after noon.

Unlike the others, who always stop

and wait when I call their names,

he just turned away and went out

the front door. Maybe he was angry

because 1 was five minutes late for

the reading of the will.

However, instead of being there looking

for Mr. Coates. I'm here, writing this. True, "here"

is really the same place as "there", since both my

writing this and my playing Deadline (an adven

ture game for the Commodore 64, in which Me Coates

is a character) are done at my computer. Nevertheless,

when I slide Deadline into my disk drive, i feel as if I'm

boarding a plane. I know in just a little while I'm going to

be somewhere else. Putting my word processor into the

drive just doesn't have the same effect.

GREGPURDON

COMMODORE; POWER/PLAT Fall 1983 35

Eventually you figure out how to use the robots in Suspended with increasing

efficiency. But, the point is, you learn it piece by piece, by trial and error, until you

have the full picture. That's the way adventures work—piece by piece, trial anderror, and then suddenly it all comes together. Or at least part of it comes together.

Adventure worlds appeal to me

more than the standard pursuit/

shoot-em-up games, probably for

the same reason that Alice in

Wonderland and Through the

Looking Glass appeal to me. In

fact, adventures have a lot in com

mon with these classic stories. It's

just that instead of entering the

adventure worlds through a rabbit

hole or mirror, you enter through

your computer. And, instead

of being just a passive observer of

events, you get to participate in

them. Let us not forget, by the

way, that Lewis Carroll (aka

Charles Dodgson), the author of

the Alice books, was a mathema

tician who enjoyed things like chess,

logic puzzles and anagrams. I'd

almost bet that, had Carroll lived

in the 1980's, he'd have been a pro

grammer—of adventure games.

I have to admire the minds who

create these little worlds, just as 1 ad

mire Carroll's. No two adventure

worlds are the same, and every

time I enter a new adventure and

start wandering around, stumbling

over clues, finding out what works

and what doesn't, catching on

to the vocabulary, it's almost like

exploring a new comer of my

own mind.

It usually takes a while to get

used to the unique environment

(and limitations) of each game,

but you're free to explore to your

curiosity's content—at least until

you make a fatal error and get

deep-sixed. But, what the heck.

Even if you die, all you have to

do is start over again—scarred,

maybe, but definitely wiser. (If you

take your adventures seriously, by

the way, you might want to save


Journal Of An Unknown Explorer

BYJIMGRACELY

This is a review of one of Commo

dore's adventure games, but at

Jim's request we 're not telling you

which one. As Jim put It, "If they

can't figure out what It's about,

then they probably won't want to

play It anyway." Can you see the

obvlousf?) clues?

Something woke me from my hiber

nation. As I became more conscious

of my condition, I recognized the

mass detector alarm, which must

have triggered my arousal.

Translated unidentified mass coor

dinates for the navigational com

puter and sat back for a short ride,Interesting quadrant of the outer

reaches of known space.

Approaching a huge cylindrical as

teroid of some sort. Definitely not

good mining material. Navigational

computer has confirmed that the

object is "nol your usual asteroid".

Red Dock: This is a docking port

color-coded in red. A round metal

sculpture or relief covers part of the

airlock door. There are exactly ten

circular bumps or columns on the

sculpture: four small bumps, two

rather large ones, two mBdium-

sized ones, and then a small

one again.

Crystal bubble appears unreach-

able from here. However, the grass

land is quite stunning and have

observed small weasel-like creatures

hunting what appear to be unicorns.

Remarkable device of some kind

keeps bands of force acting as bars

to the cages in the zoo. A number of

dead creatures are here along with

a live colony of rat-ant creatures.

Outside of a small village. Creatures

of unknown origin are travelling

throughout the entire area. Appar

ently the entire "city" has been made

from scavenged materials. An alien

that seems to have a position of

power is approaching me.

Spider creature has given me

some valuable information to aid

my search for the meaning of what

I have seen. Air is continuing to thin.

I have not found any cause of this

problem; however, I have discov

ered that when t put the... air

has suddenly become unbreath-

able... this is my last entry...

good ...l...u...c...k...

Some say there is no way to save

the strange ship and redeem the

doomed inhabitants living on it. Yet

rumors have been heard concern

ing a silver rod, two mysterious

disks and a yellow dock. Perhaps

someday...

Tie more complex the adventure, the longer this process takes. Which brings usto an important point. Be sure to take breaks when you're playing an adventure.

Also, be sure to breathe while you're playing. These two techniques will keep oxygen flowing to your brain, which helps your game immensely.

Waking to Chaos

BY DAVE STREET

It is no small wonder that Michael

Berlyn, creator of Suspended, (s

rumored to be in an asylum. After

only a few cycles of play, it became

obvious to me that only the most

contorted of souls could have de

vised such an adventure. The game

opens by wrenching you from an

uneventful cryogenic slumber and

thrusting you into the command

position of a world in chaos.

To save this world, you must re

turn the Filter Computers to a state

of balance. All right, I will take com

mand! I inventory the resources of

my underground complex and find

that to help restore balance I have

six robots at my command. Great, I

will tell them to fix their big brother

and let me get back to a more im

portant endeavor (sleeping!). Did I

say robots? I stand corrected, I have

six mechanical characters, eachwith their own special capabilities

and quirks. First, there is Iris who

seems intent on starting some

romantic escapade with me. Then

there is, what, oh well, was Waldo

who just went dysfunctional in theCavernous Corridor. Do not worry, I

have everything under control. Well

there is the matter of the 121,000

casualties, but the population was

30,172,000 to start, so maybe no

one will notice that a few are miss

ing, and besides 30,051,000 is a

much nicer number anyway.

Then there is Whiz who is so intel

ligent he has to ask a computer what

he is carrying. But since his main

function seems to be as a walking

interface lo other computers, his in

telligence is not generally an issue.

Poet, another robot, performs a

number of services, all of which are

directed toward tormenting me. He

gives such enlightening responses

to my inquiries that I still do not know

what he is doing and am losing what

little idea I had of what I was doing.

One more philosophical response

and I will send him to the Cavernous

Corridor. Like I said, 29,784,000 is a

much nicer number than 30,172,000.

Just so you can feel a little pity for

me, I am going to outline my present

situation. Iris, my seeing robot, is

blind. Waldo, my workman, is not

working. Whiz is behaving in his

normal totally lobotomized manner

and has just informed me that he

can not query any computers for a

while. Auda's auditory circuits are

inactive. Sensa is functioning, where

I do not know, but she is functioning.

And Poet has just dropped this little

maxim of enlightenment on me,

"Running, running getting nowhere

in the hustle and bustle of life". Any

way, I have fewer responsibilities

now since there have been an addi

tional 83,000 casualties. Well, now

all I have got to do is repair and organize my robots and then save the

world. I wonder if Michael Berlyn

needs a roommate.

your game before you traipse off

into dangerous territory. That will

prevent the frustration of having

to start all over.)

If you've never played an ad

venture game, you may be a little

mystified by all this. So let me

backtrack a bit. First, adventures,

unlike most of the games you

are probably used to playing, are

not (for the most part, anyway}

graphic wonders. In fact, all you

see on your screen are words,

which is why some people have

called them "participatory novels".

True, Scott Adams and others

have developed graphic adven

tures, which provide pictures as

well as words. They're great fun.

To be frank, however, I prefer

creating the pictures in my head,

probably for the same reason that

some people prefer listening to

radio stories rather than watching

television. The pictures I create

in my own mind are uniquely

personal, mysteriously intimate.

Someone else's interpretation is

almost always something of a

disappointment to me.

As you respond to the words on

your screen you are led, piece by

piece, into a small, self-contained

three-dimensional world. For in

stance, in Suspended, you've just

been thawed out (after a cryogenic

sleep of a few hundred years) be

cause your planet is hitting the skids

and you're the only one who can

save it. So, before you even have

a chance to grab a cup of coffee

(which, believe me, after a sleep

like that, I'd need), you've got to

start ordering six robots around to

try to remedy the situation before

thousands of people die.


These robots, you gradually dis

cover as you play, are not always a

big help. In fact, until you get used

to their distinctive capabilities and

various little personality quirks,

they're often a pain in the neck.

But the interesting thing is that

they have personality quirks. And

you have to deal with—and leam

to get around—those quirks, be

cause the robots are your only

way to get anything done. And

eventually you figure out how to

use them with increasing efficiency.

But, the point is. you leam it piece

by piece, by trial and error, until

you have the full picture. That's

thy way adventures work—piece

by piece, trial and error, and then

suddenly it all comes together. Or

at least part of it comes together.

The more complex the adven

ture, the longer this process takes,

and the more likely you are to

want to jump into your monitor

and get somebody around the

throat. Which brings us to an im

portant point. Be sure to take

breaks when you're playing an

adventure. Also, be sure to

breathe while you're playing.

These two techniques will keep

oxygen flowing to your brain,

which helps your game im

mensely. I am not kidding, either.

Suspended is different from most

adventure games I've played be

cause it comes with a ready-made

map of its "world", which happens

to be an underground computer

complex. In most other adven

tures you have to map the world

yourself as you explore. Which

brings us to another important

point. A pencil and lots of paper

are essential items when you play

3B COMMODORE: POWER/PLAY Fall 1983

Zork I

BY JIM GRACELY

5:30 PM

I opened the package and re

moved the diskette. My disk drive

buzzed as the game loaded inlo my

64. I was ready lor this game. So

what if no one I knew had gotlen

more than 100 out of 350 possible

points; I was ready.

As the game continued to load,

I reviewed my supplies; Enough

blank paper to map out anything

ZORK could conjure up, (our pencils

with good erasers, a red pen for

marking important areas and two

quarts of black coffee. At last the

game is loaded. The introductory

material is printed onto the screen

and... I'm off...

Hmm... a house. That's easy.

In and around and up and down

and,., Hmm... a cellar. Now we're

gelling somewhere. South and easl

and north and north... a fight!!

Drat, Dead already. Hmm... forest.

North, no east, maybe west, aha! a

clearing. Back to the woods, down

the canyon, up the cliff, along the

path. Hmm... a house. One quart

down and one to go.

Start Again

Hey, I'm allowed! One of the nice

things about these games is that

you can restart whenever you want

to. Saves a lot of reloading time.

Back to the grind wheel. Here

I go... slash, swing, kill. Now I'm

moving. Past the chasm, down

ihe passage, into the cave... Oh

my God!

Entrance to Hades

You are outside a large gateway,

on which is inscribed

"Abandon every hope, all ye

who enter here."

The gate is open; through it you

can see a desolation, with a pile

o! mangled bodies in one comer

Thousands of voices, lamenting

some hideous fate, can be heard.

The way through the gate is

barred by evil spirits, whojeer

at your attempts to pass.

WAVE GARLIC

Waving the clove of garlic has

no elfeot.

Run away, run away. Gotta keep

going, A dam, a lobby, a pile of

plastic?7Buttons, not buttons!! I

hate buttons!! Jewels at last!. A tri

dent, a loud room, room, room. I

must admit I'm doing pretty good.

My score... why I've got almost 60

points. Almost, almost. Well 37 is a

heck of a lot closer to 60 than to 0!!!!

Where am I now?? A squeaky room?

Oh no!!

Fweep I

Fweep!

Fweep!

A deranged giant vampire bat (a

reject from WUMPUS) swoops

down from his belfry and lifts

you away...

Coal Mine

This is a non-descript part of a

coal mine.

Gas, smelly, timber, ladder, coal,

shaft??... everything's spinning...

where's my coffee!!!... There goes

my lamp!!... Not now!!... I'm out

of paper... I'm lost... it's over...

I'm dead.

It's 4 o'clock in the morning...

won't someone save my lile tonight?

Guess not, Time for this novice (bah

humbug) adventurer to go to sleep.

4*

■■Him

■MKHH

ouHa

T3C3

CO

any adventure, first because you

absolutely need a map. In addition,

you may want to take notes. For

instance, in Deadline, where you

are the police inspector who has

only twelve hours to collect evi

dence and make an arrest, taking

notes on each suspect's remarks is

crucial. If you don't take notes,

you'll probably end up repeating

questions (provided you can find

the person again) and generally

wasting a lot of valuable time.

Adventure games are becoming

increasingly sophisticated and com

plex. The first one I ever played

was Scott Adams' Aduenturebnd

for the VIC 20, a great beginner's

game, with underground caverns

and sleeping dragons and all kinds

of nifty treasures. I loved it, but

the game could handle only a

fairly limited number of two-word

commands, and I spent a lot of

time playing "guess my word".

A game like Suspended or

Zork, on the other hand, can re

spond to a wider range of words,

in normal English configurations.

That's because the newer games

have a larger vocabulary built in

(usually several hundred words).

True, that's still pretty small com

pared to normal speech. And even

a complex game like Deadline has

pretty strict limits on what you can

do, where you can go, and how

you can get there. Nevertheless,

the games are getting more and

more flexible, providing more and

more options for the player, get

ting closer and closer to real-life

simulations. Some day some

genius programmer could create

a game that's so believable you

may have a hard time separating it

Adventuring with Scott Adams

BYANDYFINKEL

In Ihe world of computer games

there are two main categories: ar

cade style games (shoot-em-ups)

and adventures. (I know, I know,

lately there have been quite a few

that contain elements of both, but if

you're going to start arguing now,

there's no point in my continuing.

Right,) Certain people only play

arcade-type games. Others swear

by adventures. Most people like both.

The games I wrile are basically

arcade style, and even I like

adventures.

But exactly what is an adventure?

Everyone knows what an arcade-

style game is by now; it would be

hard not to. But fewer people are

really familiar with adventure games.

Let's use one of the most famous

series of adventures, the Scott Adams

series, as examples (The fact that

Commodore sells them is a fortu

nate coincidence, Really.) In a

classic Scott Adams adventure,

you are given a mission to perform

(which may range from defusing a

nuclear device to collecting 12 trea

sures, to...). You communicate with

the computer by means of two-word

commands {take knife, eat bridge,

play ball, whatever). The computer

tells you what you see, and what

happens when you do something.

Unlike arcade games, the adventure

actually takes place within your

mind. The quality of the descriptions

is of course very important.

One way to look at an adventure

is to imagine that it is a contest be

tween you and the adventure author.

Can you outsmart him (or her—

Alexis Adams, Scott's wife, also

writes adventures) and solve the

adventure? It is more tun when the

author has a sense of humor. (Like

in the Scott Adams series. Adver

tisement.) There are some really

funny moments in them. (There's a

certain mongoose in Pirate Cove

Adventure,.,)

If you want a break from shooting

still another mysterious alien, and

want something completely differ

ent, try an adventure. You might get

hooked. I know I did.

Scott Adams adventures range

from ones suitable for beginners

(Pirate Cove Adventure) to more

advanced {The Count) to almost

impossible (Savage Island), so

there's something for everyone.

Now that I've convinced you to

rush out and buy a Scott Adams

adventure (You mean you haven't

heard of the famed Arcade Addict

Deprogrammers? They are the

people who drag players out of

arcades to a home computer and

force them to try adventures to save

their sanity, not to mention their trig

ger fingers. No, sorry, that's silly.

Forget I mentioned them. Anyway...),

there are a few hints for playing

adventures that I can pass on. First,

use the SAVE GAME features. By

saving the adventure, you have the

freedom to try silly things knowing

you won't have to start from scratch

if you make a mistake. (I must have

run through the final five turns in

Mission Impossible, the nuclear

reactor one, at least eight times

before I got it,)

The other hint I can give is this:

when you find an object and don't

know what to do with it, try things,

even if you know it won't work. If you

find an axe, say, try "Cut tree", even

if there's no tree in sight. If the ad

venture answers "You can't do

that... YET!", you know you're on

the right track... just look for a tree.

(When Scott Adams heard people

were doing this, he changed this on

some of his adventures. So it might

not always work, especially on the

later, more difficult adventures.)

40 COMMODORE: POWEFVPLAY Fall 1983

Twelve Hours to Find

out Whodunit

BY DIANE LEBOLD

The rolling lawns of the Robner

estate are lovely and well cared

for; Angus McNabb sees to that.

The roses, which the late Marshall

Robner loved so much, are particu

larly gorgeous this time of year, and

the orchard is heavy with luscious

fruit. But I wish I'd stop bumping my

head on the front door every time I

try to get into the house. I'm getting

a miserable headache and my

forehead is black and blue-—not

very dignified for a police inspector.

I am, you see, investigating the

sudden death of Marshall Robner,

wealthy businessman and philan

thropist, whose body was foundyesterday morning on the floor of

his library. There he was, sprawled

next to the desk, deader than yes

terday's coffee grounds. A self-

administered overdose of the

sedative ebullion, the coroner

concluded.

It made sense. Mr. R had been

depressed over business problems.

But, on the other hand, Robner's

son, George, didn't like his father

much (the feeling was mutual). And

the family lawyer, Mr. Coates, said

Robner was about to change his

will. Chances seemed at least fifty-

fifty that Mr. R hadn't been THAT

depressed, and that someone else

had helped him along toward an un

timely departure from the planet.

But who? Ms, Dunbar, Robner's

lovely, ambitious secretary? Mrs.

Robner, who was jealous of the time

her husband spent with the attrac

tive Ms. D? Could it have been Mr.

Baxter, Robner's business partner?

Or was it the obvious suspect,

George—Robner's willful, spoiled

son, who had made it his life's work

to spend his father's fortune on

booze and fast cars?

My style (learned from watching

years of "Columbo") is to ignore theobvious suspect. Especially when I

find him eating red herrings in the

dining room. But everyone else has

an alibi, including Mrs. Rourke, the

gossipy (but tidy) housekeeper, and

so far the clues I've found haven't

been too much help, Maybe 1 should

get Mrs. Robner's "Sneezo" cold

medicine analyzed. Where IS that

sergeant with the youthful demeanor

who runs things down to the lab

for me?

Three hours gone. Have I missed

any rooms in the house? What about

that garden shed down by the lake?

Maybe I should look under the beds

this time around or under the library

desk. No. By the time 1 get all the

way back to the library it will be time

for the reading of the will, so maybe

I'd best prowl around the grounds

for a while and see if I can scare

up any footprints. Oops, there's

McNabb again, screaming a! me

for tramping through his roses. That

man is a fanatic. Wonder why no

body else in the house knows very

much about him.

Well, one thing is sure. If I don't

make an arrest by eight o'clock to

night, Mrs. Robner is throwing me

out of the house, and my investiga

tion is over. What a humiliating

thought. And even if I make an

arrest, will the grand jury give me

an indictment? I've got to be very

careful, and make sure I've got all

the evidence before I make any

accusations.

It's a vicious Deadline, to have to

solve this case in twelve hours. I'd

like to see you do it. Care to join me?

from the real world. This would

not be impossible.

I was going to tell you about the

humor that shows up in most ad

ventures, usually unexpectedly,

often when you're in an impossible

situation. Suddenly an off-the-

wall remark will come up on the

screen, usually to chide you for

some stupid move you've made.

(Scott Adams is notorious for a

couple of his well-placed jokes,

but I've also found these tidbits in

just about every adventure I've

played.) I know I'm being vague,

and I'd love to give you some con

crete examples, but then that

would ruin the joke, wouldn't it?

So you'll have to find them for

yourself.

If you already are playing ad

ventures I'm sure you'd love some

hints on specific games. So would

I. For instance, why did Mr. Coates

run off after he finished reading

the will? Better yet, how do I get to

talk to him? (Actually, I think I've

got that one figured out, but it

means starting the game over.} But

if you're just dying for some hints,

maybe I'll squeeze in just one—

be VERY careful about opening

doors in Suspended. That's all you

get. Any more would be as bad

as giving away the end of "Return

oftheJedi".

On these pages you'll find re

views of adventures now available

from Commodore. I use the term

"review" loosely, since it's very

hard to review an adventure in the

traditional sense without giving

away its secrets. You should, how

ever, get an idea of the general gist

of the games from what's here.

Pick one and... bon voyage. C


for theBY STEVE FINKEL

Commodore introduces

four new action games on cartridge for the Commodore 64

to challenge your reflexes and hone your eye-hand

coordination. Frogmaster is a unique game based

roughly on Pavlovian psychology (the theory

is that you can condition creatures to

respond in predictable ways by rewarding

them for behavior). Star Post, Star Ranger and

Avenger are exciting space shoot-em-ups.

VIC 20 owners, who are already familiar with

Avenger, can also pick up some useful hints

here on how to win at that popular

cartridge game.

The^Master

Speaks:An Exclusive Interview

When I finally tracked down Newt

Frogknee, possibly the most for

midable Frogmaster coach and

trainer ever to guide a team of tad

poles, he initially declined to give

me an interview. I had tracked

down the legendary coach in the

muck and slime of a swamp in

the bayou that would have made

the Johnstown flood look like a

goldfish pond. He made some

threatening gestures toward me;

he apparently felt I was a rival

coach who had followed him there

on a scouting mission trying to lure

away his best-looking recruits. I

tried to convince him that nothing

could have been further from the

truth, that 1 was a sports writer

after an interview. But the gruff

coach, in a display of that famous

temper of his, smacked me in the

face with a handful of mud.

Muddied but unbowed, I was

still determined to get my story.

After all, this was the man who

had guided a team of young, un

tested tadpoles and over-the-hill

frogs, molding them into an almost

unbeatable machine. Under his

tutelage, they were not just a

bunch of amphibians; they

were an awesome example of

the height of coaching genius, the

whole being greater than the sum

of the parts. This was the earmark

of a Frogknee team, the willingness

to sacrifice individual talents, even

one's life and baby tadpoles, for

the team and coach. The story had

been repeated several times, with

different casts of characters, but

always with the same end result:

victory. His teams had competed

in {and usually won) all the major

bowl games: the Turtle Bowl, the

Goldfish Bowl, the Weevil Bowl,

the Dust Bowl—all the biggies.

The man was truly a great one.

Unfortunately, he was also a stub

born one. Not only was he refus

ing to talk to me, but he was also

directing many strong young frogs

to use me as a tackling dummy (a

task they attacked with great zeal).

I had given up hope of ever

getting my interview and was re

treating when I felt a pull at my side.


A

V

"• ;<iiM

It seems that a hungry alligator

had decided to fix himself a snack

of spare ribs, and was searching

for mine. The great coach saw this,

and after one of his famous guf

faws, consented to do this inter

view. As we spoke in the back of

the ambulance that rushed me to

intensive care, Newt remarked,

"Kid, you got guts. But they're

leakin' out yer side." The coach

enjoyed another great laugh at my

expense, but 1 stopped his sick

sense of humor short by bleeding

on his pant leg. We then began

the interview that cost me 28

stitches in my side and a huge dry

cleaning bill.

Me: Coach, how exactly do you

do it? You are one of the all-lime

great Frogmaster coaches; your

teams are routinely spectacular.

What's your secret?

Coach: There is no secret. It's a

matter of rewarding your players

when they deserve it. You'll never

see me rewarding a tadpole or frog

who doesn't deserve it! On the

other hand, I'll seldom miss a re

ward when a frog is moving in the

right direction. The right rewards

mean the right moves. That's a

good guideline for any coach.

Me: Your players haven't made

many mistakes over the years.

Coach: Oh, I've had my share of

screw-ups. Sometimes you get a

tadpole that gets out there and just

doesn't know which way to go,

and he catches encouragement

from the other coach and decides

to try and score AGAINST you! [

remember a game when I was just

starting out coaching where the

opposing coach rewarded my

players so well that the entire

contest consisted of all the players,

even mine, storming my goal line.

My poor snake goalie quit right

after that game, and I didn't blame

him one bit!

Me: Of course, things have

changed since then. You're more

than likely to do that to an inexpe

rienced opponent now. A question

I've always wanted to ask you:

How do you manage to stay so

sharp? You always seem to be so

well-prepared for your opponent

How is that?

Coach: Practice, practice, and

more practice. I practice my team

against a team controlled by a

computer, with a handicap, at dif

ferent speeds, with different num

bers of players. If you can beat the

computer's team, you're a damn

fine coach. Not to blow my own

horn, but 1 can take the computer

three out of five. This keeps me

ready for any challenge posed

by another coach.

Me: You mentioned the number

of players. How many players do

you prefer to use?

Coach: I always say "the more

the merrier". When there's nine

players on each side, that creates

a situation where your coaching

skills are really tested. You must try

to pay attention to 18 frogs or tad-


Qfbr

Star Post

Log

STARDATE: 98.86.125

STAR POST LOG ENTRY #1

CPL. J. F. WEAVER

I've established my command

here. Some command, me alone

against any alien pilot who feels

like buzzing my sector. Still, it's

really quiet, and I'd swear I could

even see Venus from here. This

place is in the middle of nowhere.

Actually, it's on the edge of

nowhere. The middle of nowhere

is a couple hundred thousand

miles to the left. Either way, it's

pretty dull. I think I see something

coming up on the viewscreen, and

it sure ain't Luke Skywalker. Be

back soon.

STARDATE: 98.97.125


CPL. J. F. WEAVER

I've just survived my first trial-by-

fire. I had gunned down one alien

cruiser, when all of a sudden about

a dozen more were right on top of

me from out of nowhere. It was

like driving in New York City dur

ing rush hour. I had to continually

whirl around, firing in all direc

tions, and still didn't stop all of

them. Three got through before

the attack ended, so it looks like I'll

have a little repair work ahead of

me. Still, I think that they'll think

twice before wandering in front of

my gunsights again.

STARDATE: 98.02.127


CPL. J. F. WEAVER

Not only have I completed repairs

and had breakfast, I had to shoot

up another wave of attackers. I

don't know what kind of fool they

think they're dealing with here,

but as long as they keep coming at

me, I'll keep gunning them down.

Their attack seems disorganized

at first, but you realize that by at

tacking from any direction, they're

really testing my skill at maneu

vering and shooting. I think I see

another attack formation approach

ing. You'd think they'd get tired of

getting shot down.

STARDATE: 98.77.132


CPL. J. F. WEAVER

Frog Master Continued

poles, and effectively reward the

right ones at the right time. This

is tough for many inexperienced

coaches, but challenges are made

to be met and conquered. Make

sure you get that quote right,

'cause it's one of my better ones.

Me: That's one of your BETTER

ones? (The coach shot me a nasty

glance, and I hurried up with my

next question.)

Me: What level do you most like

your players to compete at?

Coach: I personally will usually

have them play either the standard

or advanced game. I left the prac

tice game, when each team only

has one frog, behind years ago.

It was useful for me to develop

my coaching skills, but I need the

challenge of the STANDARD and

ADVANCED games. I particularly

like the advanced game with the

walls that the tadpoles have to

break through and the frogs have

to leap over to score. It gives me a

great pride in my players when I

see them bash into a brick wall in

an attempt to break a hole in it for

the good of the team. I think the

walls provide an additional chal

lenge, and you know how I feel

about challenges.

Me: They're to be kept and

monitored...?

Coach: Idiot! Met and conquered!

Another challenge I like is Meta

morphosis, when tadpoles turn

into frogs, frogs lay eggs, eggs be

come tadpoles, and frogs die dur

ing the course of play. The biggest

heartbreak is when you get a tad

pole that just hatched from an egg

to march downfield, approaching

the opponent's goal line as it

changes into a frog, only to have

it die on you before it scores.

But I'll tell you honestly, I have

nothing but the greatest respect for

a frog that gives its all for the good

of the team.

Me: Coach, in your day, you've

coached some of the best goalies

in the game. Do you have a spe

cial touch when it comes to con

trolling your snake goaltenders?

Coach: That's a pretty good ques

tion. You're smarter than you

look. As a matter of fact, since a

coach has better control over the

goalie than over the frogs and tad

poles, I can better use my reflexes

and concentration to make my

goalie more effective. Another

factor in the success of my goalie,

and the overall effectiveness of my

team, is a good feel for the proba

bility of a frog's next move. It's

possible to "track" a player,

keeping abreast of the prob

abilities for his next move in any

direction. This can be a great help

in defending against the opponent

and also guiding your offense.

Of course, it is a great challenge

even if you've mastered the

probabilities... (The coach was

obviously waiting for me to spit

out his quote about challenges.

Due to loss of blood or just that


What an experience! Two more

attack waves, and I was definitely

in trouble on the second one. The

post had nearly taken its limit of

hits, and it looked like I was gonna

miss a couple more aliens. The

Superalien was bearing down on

me in a spiral course and I just

couldn't track him. I knew if he got

to me, the Star Post would be de

stroyed. At the last second, I un

leashed the Superzap. 1 know I'm

only supposed to use them in dire

emergencies, but it wouldn' t have

done me any good if the post were

destroyed. Anyway, I let it fly and

suddenly, all the aliens in the vicin

ity were obliterated. It took them a

couple seconds to resume their

attack, but by that time I was back

in control of the situation. I'm

starting to wonder exactly what is

so important about this post. It

must be important, since the aliens

keep sending so many ships out

here for me to shoot down. But if

I didn't think it was a very good

quote, I wasn't sure if I remem

bered it. I gave it my best shot.)

Me: Challenges are made to be...

metal containers?

The coach could not contain

himself at being misquoted again

on his favorite quote, and showed

a flash of his legendary temper by

breaking off the interview (as well

as my ankle) by slugging me in the

foot with an oxygen tank. I had

finally gotten my story and lapsed

happily into unconsciousness.

Unfortunately, this will be my last

article for some time, since I'll be

laid up in the hospital while my

ankle and side heal. The doctors

do assure me, however, that I will

be out of the hospital in time to

cover the Dust Bowl. Who knows?

Maybe I'll even get to do a follow-

up interview. Let's see now;

Challenges are made to be...

it's so important, why am I the

only one out here? When I ask my

commanders, they don't really an

swer my question. As 1 check the

viewscreen, it looks like the tourist

season is upon me again, so I gotta

go give them a proper greeting.

STARDATE: 98.33.138


CPL. J. F. WEAVER

The attacks are getting harder and

harder to fight off. I took 7 direct

hits on the post in the last one,

and I had to exhaust my supply of

Superzaps to help me survive the

attack. These ships are coming in

a lot faster, and the attacks are get

ting longer and longer. I wouldn't

mind so much if there was some

body else around to take some of

the pressure off me, but this post

is a one-man show. I wonder what

poor sucker they'll send up here

after I'm done... I'm only signed

up here for three more years, but

somehow I don't think I'm gonna

qualify for the pension fund. I'm

starring to wonder exactly why

I was chosen to man this post in

the first place. They told me it

had something to do with my

psychological profile, that their

complex personality analysis indi

cated that I would excell given the

responsibility of being completely

autonomous in defending the

galaxy etc. etc. I think it has more

to do with getting caught after

hours with the base commander's

daughter... but I guess that's just

the way the Galactic Army works

sometimes. I've gotta remember to

ask after the commander's daugh

ter in my next status report—that

should cheer the old man up. Well,

another attack wave is upon me. I

sure wish I had a couple Superzaps

left. Looks like I gotta go entertain

my alien friends again. This one's

for you, Commander. It's gonna

be tough to make it through three

more years of this, but I'll be there.

You can count on it.

Now

Showing...

Steven Spielberg isn't the only

one who can develop a great ad

venture scenario. Every time I play

StarRanger, when I feel the power

behind that joystick as I maneuver

my starship through countless ob

stacles, I become the protagonist

of a thrilling space adventure. It's

kind of a Walter Mitty thing, but

as the action takes place on the

screen, I build an entire story

line with character development,

plot twists, heroes, and villains.

Usually I rum out to be the hero,

although I'm pretty humble as far

as heroes go.

The story changes each time.

This time I'm a weekend pilotwho took up flying as a hobby.

I've progressed to the point whereI'm considered the best amateurflier in my sector. My world has

been shattered, however, by finding that the only woman I've ever

loved has been brutally murderedat the whim of a spoiled, imma

ture crown prince from the

Teflon system.

Prince Bundt has a reputationfor spitefulness, exceeded only by

his vast ego. The Prince made an

unannounced visit to our planet

fora hunting expedition, going

after the prize game our sand

forests offer. After the hunt, thePrince and his hunting party in

dulged in a feast that would've


Now Showing Continuedgiven even the most hard-core

glutton cause to turn down his

after-dinner mint.

Filled with food and wine, the

Prince decided he'd like a taste of

the waitress as well. The waitress,

of course, was my beloved Curad.

When she spurned his advances,

the Prince simply pulled out a

blaster and disintegrated her—

one part of her anatomy at a time.

On the plus side, he did leave

a big tip.

His ministers, wishing to avoid

an incident, simply bought the

silence of everyone involved—

except me. When I returned to

find my Curad slaughtered and the

Prince gone, 1 swore that 1 would

have my revenge. Unfortunately,

the Prince was certain to reach his

home planet before I could ready

my ship for the journey and would

be safely ensconced in his fortress

when 1 reached his planet. The

Prince's royal status guaranteed

his safe passage to his home

planet. My voyage would not be

without its challenges.

I left from the spaceport in the

dead of night to avoid being seen.

As my home planet receded in the

rear viewscreen, 1 realized that I

would never return. 1 was deter

mined to face the Prince, but had

no clue about what I'd do or

where I'd go (if! survived). 1 was

shaken from my mental wander

ings by a laser blast exploding

nearby. My ship was under attack

from the Nasties. I'm not sure

what their name means in their

own language, but the low growl

that they speak in makes it sound

a lot like Nasties.

Nasties are kind of like bullies.

They won't attack you unless the

odds really favor them, and then

they come out of the woodwork.

Their ships are much slower and

less maneuverable than mine, and

their weapons don't have much

range. I'm not surprised they

chose me for a target; since I'm

flying alone I must look like a com

plete pigeon. But they shouldn't

forget what a pigeon can do to

breadcrumbs, let alone statues.

The combat was short and

spectacular 1 maneuvered my ship

to keep them shifting directions;

when they had to turn around to

try to follow my ship's course, I

would buzz their crafts and blow

them away before they had a

chance to react. After a few

passes, there were no more

Nasties willing to face me.

I continued on warily, knowing

that 1 would soon be passing close

to Saltine 9, power base of the

Bombers. The Bombers were

named for their propensity toward

bombs; they abhor laser and

photon fire, feeling that it is un

civilized to destroy something by

shooting it. Apparently, their

quasi-religion forbids the action

of shooting, because it amounts

to directly taking lives. But the

Bombers are also an extremely

private life form, so they needed

to develop a protection, to dis

courage attackers and prying out

siders and protect their privacy.

They became Bombers.

Any passing force, be it a single

craft or an entire fleet, will be faced

with the task of eluding the Bomb

ers. The Bombers will pepper the

flight-paths with land mines that

explode on contact They accost

each ship that passes with no ex

ception; usually, it is wise to detour

around Saltine 9, but 1 am in some

thing of a hurry. Although their

ships are relatively slow, it is diffi

cult to hit a Bomber craft with laser

fire, since they are experts at

evasive movement. But it is im

perative that you do destroy them,

because they will litter your path

with their mines and totally block

your way, even if you mean them

no harm.

It is said that no outsider has

ever actually seen a Bomber up

close. I don't doubt it, because

there's something almost suicidal

about them. Bomber pilots will

often try to collide with your ship,

sacrificing themselves in order to

destroy intruders and preserve

their planet's privacy.

And here they are now...

I don't enjoy destroying Bombers,

since they only want to maintain

their privacy. But it's either them

or me. and I have an appointment

with Prince Charming's step

brother. My basic strategy is to

shoot them only when 1 have to. I

usually try to get in front of them

and destroy them by hitting them

with my exhaust jets as they come

up behind me. This accomplishes

two things: first, if I can stay in

front of them, I don't have to

avoid their bombs; secondly, by

killing them without firing a shot

I create a terrific sense of poetic

irony, which I somehow don't

think the Bombers appreciate.

That is basically what happened.

Every time the Bombers tried to

approach me from behind, I gave

them a quick blast from my

exhaust, and continued on. The

Bombers left me alone as 1 de

parted from their galactic turf.

I could not relax for too long,

however. I was almost immediately

attacked by a wandering band ofCibollians. Cibollians are the pi

rates of the system. They have a

strange custom that requires all

young Cibollians to man pirating

crafts when they are presumably

old enough to take care of them

selves. This is their rite of passage;

it is surprising, because the mature

Cibollians are a peace-loving race

and don't have any other space

force besides their pirating hordes.

This sometimes gets them in trou

ble, and they are constantly forced

to migrate from system to system.

They are often good for a laugh.


since their pilots are usually inex

perienced. Their ships resemble

multi-colored cosmic marshmal-

lows, and although they are

equipped with powerful weapons,

their firing range is limited.

To repel their attack, I lured

them, two at a time, to a spot

where I could circle around them

and fire. I avoided their weapons

because of their limited range, and

my superior mobility allowed me

to run circles around their inexpe

rienced pilots in their slower crafts.

1 started preparing myself for

the final approach to the Prince's

planet.! knew I would have to be

sharp, because by now he must've

had word of my coming and would

no doubt be prepared. While my

thoughts focused on the possibili

ties for traps that I would face, I

barely realized that I had navigated

directly into an asteroid shower.

Cursing my own stupidity, I fran

tically manipulated the controls,

weaving in and out of the moving

asteroids. I regained control of

the ship, and steadily steered a

course through the asteroid field.

I emerged slightly shaken, but as

determined as ever. I was approach

ing the Teflon system.

I expected an elaborate wel

coming committee and 1 was not

disappointed. The Prince had

hired the most feared hired guns in

the galaxy, the Invisons, to protect

him. Invisons are feared not only

because of their skill as pilots and

their deadly weapons, but mainly

because of their sophisticated

spacecraft. The Invison technol

ogy has developed ships that have

a temporary invisibility cloaking

device. They simply appear, shoot

at you, and disappear again. They

also cannot be hit when invisible.

They are dedicated fighters and

will battle to the death if they are

hired to do a job. I was indeed up

against formidable foes. I imme

diately took the offensive, charg

ing the first Invison to appear. I just

wasn't quick enough... another

appeared behind me, then

another. Soon, I was surrounded

by several Invisons flashing in and

out of existence.

I started to try to soar in be

tween two approaching Invison

ships... mistake... Invison fire lit

up my ship and it was all over. Was

my attempt at revenge thwarted?

No! I had two more ships remain

ing. I guessed that the Invisons

would have been aggravated that

I was pulling the old three-ship

routine, but it's MY video game

and MY story, so I can do what

ever I want. This time, I had better

luck against the Invisons. After

several close calls, I defeated them

by anticipating where they would

reappear, shooting and then quickly

retreating. I then approached

the docking base unchallenged.

While there were no ships or

enemy fire to deter me, it was still

difficult to maneuver my ship

through the subterranean tunnels

to the docking base. But I made

it, and readied myself for the

showdown.

As far as the outcome of my

conflict with the Prince, I'll leave

you to guess what happened. It's

time for a new script, with new

characters, new plot develop

ments, and maybe a new outcome.

This space adventure stuff can get

to be very absorbing; I would

advise you to try it and see what

you can come up with. Remember:

after you've gotten through level

one and killed the Prince, escaped

the galactic posse, located your

long-lost Aunt Bertha, or what

ever, then there's the more chal

lenging level two. And that's

another story just waiting to

be told.

Everything You

Always Wanted

to Know About

Winning at

Avenger*•tfial I ieel tike telling you rigttt now

"Winning isn't everything. It's

the only thing." These words, ut

tered first by Vince Lombardi and

repeated by scores of overbearing

coaches and fathers who've lost

their perspective on child-rearing

and life in general, have inspired

countless little leaguers, weekend

quarterbacks, and high school

athletes to do anything within their

power to taste the thrill of victory,

leaving their opponents to swallow

the agony of defeat.

Values such as good sportsman

ship may be good for an honor

able mention now and then, but in

the end it's the winner who rides

off into the sunset with the girl and

the gold. Why settle for Miss Con

geniality if you can take home the

big prize? The aim of this article is

to pinpoint exactly how one can

become a world-class competitor

and gracious victor at the game of

Avenger specifically, although the

basic principles can be applied to

any form of competition.

Avenger is a game for one or

two players. It is the latter version

we are concerned with. For those

not familiar with the game, Avenger

features a formation of alien invad

ers who close in on your craft on


Everything You Always WantedTo Know Continued

the planet's surface, dropping

bombs and laser fire as they travel

back and forth across the screen

while you try to destroy the whole

formation. It is an interesting game

to play alone, but against an op

ponent the game takes on a new

dimension. When you emphasize

victory at all costs, you can adopt

one or more of several different

strategies for whipping your op

ponent. Each method has its own

distinct flavor and each lends

unique characteristics to the

competitive arena.

Method One:

Fair Play, Hard Work, And

Superior Ability

This is the hold-your-head-high,

grit-your-teeth, All-American way

to become a winner. It involves

developing your reflexes and hon

ing your skills in Avenger to a level

so lofty that the aliens mutter "Oh

no, not him again!" when you

grab the joystick.

To become a true great, you

need not only natural skills, but

also mental toughness and dedi

cation. There will be times when

you'll realize that other things in

life are important besides becom

ing a great Avenger player (such

as meals, births in the immediate

family and winning the lottery),

but you'll also realize how over

rated those things really are.

Get used to your parents,

children, spouse, and friends be

coming irritated because they can

never watch TV due to your con

stant involvement with the game.

Tell them there's nothing good

on anyway. Get used to hearing

comments like, "Is that joystick

surgically attached, or what?"

Sometimes one must undergo

true hardship to achieve greatness,

and sarcasm is just another test of

one's spirit.

Method Two:

Beating The System

4B COMMODORE: POWER/PLAY Fall 1983

This is also an All-American

way to triumph over opponents

that are just not as sharp as you.

This involves using your intelli

gence, guile, and mental acuity to

develop the most effective system

to "beat the game". Are these not

the skills that made this country

great? Well, I think so anyway.

An effective strategy can allow

even the most uncoordinated,

under-talented loser to become

a dominating, over-confident

egotist... in other words, a win

ner. The most effective strategy

I've come across is shooting out

the far left (or far right) columns,

which causes the entire formation

of aliens to take longer before ad

vancing toward your ship on the

planet's surface. The formation

advances when it reaches the

end of the screen, so if you keep

shooting all the aliens in the col

umn nearest the edge of the

screen, it will take them longer

to reach that edge.

Also, the formation speeds up

as you destroy individual aliens.

To keep it from moving too fast

too soon, one must leave the end

column alone at a certain point

and shoot the lowest aliens in each

row. This takes a fine sense of judg

ment to know exactly when to

change the focus of your attack

without having the aliens speed

up, but if you can master the tim

ing the game will be a breeze.

To rack up more points, one

might also discover how to "un-

randomize" the point values for

the Mystery Ship that floats across

the top of the screen. On certain

shots, specifically your twenty-

third shot and every 15 thereafter

(if you count each shot you fire),

you can get the maximum point

value for the Mystery Ship in

the ViC version of Avenger. You

might be able to do the same with

the 64 version and you might not

Since it's not inconceivable that I

might be challenged to a game for

a substantial amount of money by

someone reading this article, I'll

leave you to your own resources

to figure that one out.

Method Three:

Distraction

You may be noticing now that

there is a decreasing legitimacy to

these methods as you read further

along. Distraction, while not being

immoral, is generally frowned upon

by people who have mastered

either of the first two methods.

But let's face it: if you still have

not gotten the hang of those two

methods, distraction can be a very

useful competitive tool.

Distraction requires creativity,

aggressiveness, and often con

vincing acting skill to be effective.

While your esteemed opponent

demolishes his ninth or tenth con

secutive rack of aliens, and you

languish, unable to conquer even

level one, a distractor may be just

the thing to break his concentra

tion and bring him back down to

your level. Some distractions may

be verbal in nature: "Was that

the telephone I heard ringing just

now?" or "Did you see that rabid

dog in the kitchen?" Subject mat

ter is often important. Which

statement is more likely to grab

your attention? Would your con

centration be shattered more by

someone uttering, "Sure looks like

rain today" or by an excited query

of, "Wasn't that Chairman Mao in

that UFO with a cure for cancer?"

I think the answer is obvious.

Sometimes verbal distractors

just aren't effective, and more

elaborate productions may be

required. I once thrashed an

over-confident opponent when

I brought the entire Osmond Fam

ily in to sing a medley of popular

movie theme songs in the middle

of his third rack.

A general rule of thumb for

distractions is: the more outra

geous, the more effective. Fake

death scenes, however, are discour

aged, since there is a certain "boy

who cried wolf" effect involved.

Therefore, I would recommend

using this ploy only if you are in

good health or are certain that the

other person won't do anything

as to actually cause you to expe

rience the "boy who cried wolf"

effect. The bottom line is that a

distractor can be an effective strat

egy and also a lot of fun if you like

making your opponent gnash

his teeth.

Method Four:

Intimidation

The effectiveness of this method

depends a great deal on the physi

cal characteristics of you and

your opponent. This is not recom

mended if you weigh under 90

pounds or your opponent is wanted

for manslaughter in more than

three states.

If you do think you can bring it

off, intimidation can be a particu

larly effective tool in winning con

sistently. One drawback is that

your supply of opponents (and

friends) may dwindle dramatically

if this strategy is overused.

Intimidation can range from

the harmless to the extreme.

The lighter forms of intimidation

include glaring at your oppo

nent, cursing under your breath at

your own mistakes and your rival's

successes, and becoming visibly

angered at your own inability to

play the game. Some of the more

serious ways to intimidate your

opponent are screaming obscen

ities while banging the table with

your shoe when your oppo

nent nears the end of a round,

sticking pins in a doll that bears

an uncanny resemblance to your

opponent, and paying someone

named Dutch to break your op

ponent's fingers as he tries to play.

Intimidation comes a lot easier

to some people than others, so be

sure you can take care of yourself

before trying anything too extreme.

A word of warning about using in

timidation to win at Avenger, once

you use it, expect to be labelled a

"poor sport". At this point, you

can remind those snivelling losers

of Vince Lombardi's words quoted

at the beginning of this article. And

for heaven's sake, don't try to in

timidate anyone named Dutch!

Method Five:

Outright Cheating

Cheating carries with it a uni

formly negative connotation.

"Cheaters never prosper" and

"Cheaters never win and winners

never cheat" are two sayings that

sum up our culture's view of those

who chose not to play by the rules.

They are, of course, entirely incor

rect and quite misleading. Some

of our most successful business

men, politicians, and game players

have done extremely well with an

underdeveloped sense of fair play.

We are brought up to believe that

cheating is "wrong" and that only

"bad" people cheat. But you may

also recall that many are brought

up believing in Santa Claus, fairies,

and other fallacies. So why cling

to thoughts that are really remind

ers of bitter childhood disappoint

ments? It's time to leave the

past behind!

If you have failed to master

the intricacies of the first four

methods, cheating offers yet

another chance to be a winner.

There is an almost unlimited

number of options available to

the really creative cheater. A ma

jor challenge (and what makes

cheating an art) is pulling it off

without causing your opponent

to suspect your integrity in the

least. Successfully cheating an op

ponent who knows he should've

won leaves him feeling puzzled

and frustrated.

Cheating, while not the most

ethical way to win at Avenger,

can be as gratifying as any other

method. I would not recommend

cheating for most players, because

there is more than a little potential

to wind up disgraced, ostracized or

even physically abused. If the op

ponent you've classified as having

the awareness of an English muffin

turns out to have quick eyes, a

short temper, and a lightning-fast

left hook, cheating may seem like

a poor choice indeed.

Some of the more obvious and

effective ploys (without giving

away too many secrets} involve a

slight misdirection of your oppo

nent's attention. If my opponent

is beating the pants off me, one of

my favorite maneuvers is to wait

until he's not concentrating and

play during his turn. I get his score,

and suddenly he's way behind try

ing to catch up to his own score!

Since Avenger for the 64 only

plays with one joystick out of con

trol port #1 for both players, the

potential exists for an elaborate

pre-meditated cheat. Attaching

both joysticks and giving your op

ponent the useless one hooked

up to port #2 and controlling his

game with your working joystick is

a great ploy that is often successful

and hard to detect. The key ele

ment is how convincingly you

handle his "game".

There are, of course, scores

of other ingenious ways to cheat

but most are far too diabolical to

be revealed here. My best advice

to you on cheating is: If you must

cheat. DON'T GET CAUGHT!

If you do get caught and try to im

plicate me, I'll deny everything

and you'll be on your own. Re

member, the only thing worse

than losing is cheating and still

losing. Actually, there are proba

bly a lot of worse things than either

of those alternatives.

So those are the five methods,

each effective in its own way. Try

them out, combine them, enjoy

them; when you decide on a

method and style that suits you,

make it your own. Then go out

there and show the world how to

play Avenger! Remember: Win

ning isn't everything... I'm sure

you know the rest. C


There comes a time, working

with bit-mapped graphics on the

Commodore 64, when simply

drawing on the screen is not

enough. Suddenly it becomes

important to save the screens.

Perhaps you've drawn a master

piece with a joystick painter, maybe

the design you've created is des

tined to become the art piece de

resistance of the 80's or maybe you

just have a nifty doodle. Whatever

the reason may be, you need to be

able to save your screens to tape

or disk and be able to recall them

again later. This article will present

not one but two (2) ways to do just

that The first save/recall programs

use a sequential file to save the data

and the second pair of programs

uses (now don't get squeamish)

the Kernal SAVE routine.

The Data

A brief review of the mechanics

behind bit-mapped graphics will

remind us that the screen is ac

tually displaying 8000 bytes of

memory from 8192 to 16191. One

important result of this is that using

RUN/STOP RESTORE will not

affect these 8000 bytes; neither

will using the NEW command

or loading in a program (as long

as it is less than 6K). This Is cer

tainly good news! Once a design

or drawing has been completed,

thy program can be ended and

a new program can be loaded to

save the high resolution screen.

With this new knowledge we

can now consider the contents

of the 8000 bytes of memory that

the high resolution screen uses.

When the bytes are displayed on

the screen they appear as dots (or

pixels), but in memory they are

simply numbers. If you were to

look at each of the 8000 locations

from 8192 to 16191 you would

find a number between 0 (all eight

bits 0) and 255 (all eight bits 1) in


each location. So to save a high

resolution screen, what we actually

have to do is save 8000 numbers.

Sequential FilesThe information presented

so far may be just what some of

you needed to understand how

to save high resolution screens,

and you're now ready to run off

to your favorite sequential file

program. If you are one of these

people then feel free to skip this

section, but be sure to rejoin us

later when we start discussing the

kernal routine. In the meantime,

let's talk about sequential files.

A sequential file can be thought

of as a list. It can be a list of any

thing and can be just about as long

or as short as you want it to be.

An everyday equivalent of using

a sequential file is a shopping list

that you keep in a desk drawer. If

you want to start writing your list

you have to first OPEN the desk

drawer. You can then write or

PRINT the items onto your list.

Then when you are done, you

would put the list back in the

desk drawer and CLOSE it. In this

example, the desk represents the

medium (tape or disk) that you

are working with.

Now imagine that you went to

the store to go shopping and you

forgot your list. So you walk over

to the pay phone and call home.

Trying to get your son (or daugh

ter, or husband...) to read you

your shopping list would be just

about the same as telling the com

puter to read a sequential file.

Let's compare the two procedures:

To Johnny

Hi Johnny, this is mommy.

I want you to do something

for me.

0]>;.'ii the drawer

on the upper left comer

of the old desk.

and be careful of splinters.

Get the shopping list,

and you have to read it to me.

Read what the first thing is.

(the whole list)

Now close the drawer.

Thank you Johnny.

To Computer

No equivalent

No equivalent

OPEN

1, (which drawer)

8, (which desk)

1, (any commands?)

"shoppinq list, s,

r"

INPUT #l,a$

CLOSE5 (same drawer)

No equivalent

The open command in this

example was OPEN 1,8,1, "shop

ping list,s,r". This is the open com

mand for reading a sequential

file from disk (the eight tells the

64 to work with the disk drive). If

the last letter in quotes were a

"w" instead of an "r" then the 64

would write to the file. The same

open command for tape would

be OPEN 1,1,0, "shopping list". In

this open command, the second

number is a 1, which tells the 64 to

work with the datassette. The third

number (0) tells the 64 to read

from the file. If this were a 1 then

the 64 would write to the file.

Here's a short program to open

and write the 8000 bytes of data to

a sequential file:

500 BASE=8192

510 INPUT"FILENAME";F$

520 OPEN 1,1,1,F$

530 FOR X=BASE TO

BASE+7999

540 P=PEEK(X)


550 PRINT#1,P

560 NEXT

570 CLOSE 1

If you are working with a disk

drive, substitute this line 520:

520 OPEN 1,8,1,F$+"

,S,W"

Line 550 is the only lins that

might confuse you a little. The

PRINT #1 statement tells the 64 to

put information into a sequential

(or any other kind) of file. The line

numbers start at 500 so the whole

program can be added directly to

the base graph program that I pre

sented in the last issue of Power/

Play. (See page 55 in this issue for

the base graph program.)

So this program will save a high

resolution screen to either tape

or disk. Did I mention size yet? I

guess not. Well we're saving 8000

bytes and there are 256 bytes in

a block, so the file should be 32

(8000/256) blocks. Unfortunately,

sequential files aren't that neat. In

fact, each byte that we store with

the program uses up to six bytes in

the file. This is because a number

is stored as a string in a sequential

file with each digit using one byte.

In addition to this there is a space

character before each number and

both a space character and car

riage return character after each

number. Storing a three-digit

number therefore uses six bytes.

The result of these extra bytes

is that a sequential file containing

one high resolution screen uses

about 140 blocks. Now that's a

lot of blocks! Keep that in mind

before trying to use this saving

program.

How do you get the screen back

out of the sequential file? Basically

we just reverse the process. Open

the sequential file to read, read

each byte and POKE them back

into memory locations 8192

through 16191. Here's a program

to do that:

10 BASE=8192


30 OPEN l,l,0,F$

40 FOR X=BASE TO BASE +

7999

50 INPUT#1,P

60 POKE X,P

70 NEXT

80 CLOSE 1

90 POKE 53272,PEEK

(53272JOR 8

100 POKE 53265,PEEK

(53265)OR 32

110 FOR 1=1024 TO 2023

:P0KE I,3:NEXT

120 POKE 1024,16

130 GET A$:IF A$<>"

[SPACE]"THEN 130

140 POKE 53265,PEEK

(53265)AND 223

150 POKE 53272,PEEK

(53272)AND 247:PRINT"

[CLEAR]":CLR:END

If you are using a disk drive sub

stitute this line 30:

30 OPEN 1,8,5,F$+",S,R"

This is a nice little program be

cause in addition to loading the

screen back into the 64, it aiso

switches you to bit-mapped mode

so that you can see the screen.

Just press the space bar when you

tire of looking at the screen.

A Kernal SaveWhen I first wrote sequential

saving and loading routines for

saving screens, I was just as happy

as could be. But then... I started

to get impatient. I figured that

there must be a way to make this

process even quicker. After fid

dling with some machine language

routines, and getting nowhere, I

decided to try the Kernal SAVE

routine. Suddenly all my problems

COMMODORE: POWER/PUY Fall 1983 53

faded away as the Kemal routines

zipped through their operations

and saved each screen in a 32-block program file (remember that

8000 bytes/256 bytes/block = 32

blocks). A program file, you may

exclaim! Yes, 1 retort, and program

files can be loaded directly into the

64. Well, hopefully I have you In

terested enough now to overcome

your initial fear of using the Kernal

routines.

Here is a simple, eleven-line

program, using Kernal routines

and written in BASIC, to save a

high resolution screen:

500

510

520

530

540

550

560

570

580

590

600

INPUT"FILENAME"

L=LEN(F$)

FOR X=l TO L

POKE 49151+X,ASC

(MID$(F$,X,1)>

NEXT

INPUT"TAPE[SPACE]

OR[SPACE]DISK"

;d$

D=1:IF LEFT$

(D$,1)="D"THEN

D=8

POKE 780,4:POKE

781,D:POKE 782,

255:SYS 65466

POKE 780,L:POKE

781,0:POKE 782,

192:SYS 65469

POKE 251,0:POKE

252,32

POKE 780,251:POKE

781,63:POKE 782,

63:S¥S 65496

Line 500 allows you to name

your screen file (no more than

16 characters).

Line 510 finds the length of the filename you entered.

Lines 520-540 set up a loop

that stores the ASCII value of each

character of the file name. The

stored name begins at location

49152.

Lines 550-560 allow you to

choose either tape or disk, and set

the device number accordingly.

Line 570 sets up the logical file

using the SETFLS Kemal routine.

This is the equivalent of an OPENstatement. Locations 780, 781

and 782 can be used in BASIC to

set the accumulator, X register andY register. 780 is POKEd with the

logical file number (4). 781 is

POKEd with the device number

(D). 782 is POKEd with a 255,

which tells the 64 that there are no

special commands. A SYS65466

then runs the SETFLS routine.

Line 580 sets the name of the

file using the SETNAM Kemal

routine. 780 is POKEd with the

length of the file name (L). 781

and 782 are POKEd with the low

and high bytes of the location of

the file name (49152).

High Byte = INT(49152/256

= 192

Low Byte = 49152-256

* High Byte = 0

A SYS65469 then runs this

routine.

Line 590 uses memory locations

251 and 252 to store the low byte

and high byte of the first memory

location to save (8192).

High Byte - lNT(8192/256)

= 32

Low Byte = 8192-256*

High Byte = 0

Line 600 saves the 8000 bytes

of data using the SAVE Kemal

routine. 780 is POKEd with the

zero page address that we used in

line 590 (251). 781 and 782 are

POKEd with the low and high

bytes of the last memory location

to save (16191).

High Byte = INT(16191/256}

= 63

Low Byte = 16191 - 256 *

High Byte = 63

A SYS65496 then runs this

routine and saves our file.

Now you can save ail the

screens that you want to. All we

have to do is find a way to get

them back into the 64.1 men-


tioned earlier that the Kemal saves

the data as a program file. It seems

that all we have to do is put a

LOAD command in a programand the screen will load. This is

true. However, whenever a LOAD

command is within a program, the

64 will automatically RUN the

program after it is loaded.

There are ways around this

problem if we just take a minute to

think it through. First of all, we can

tell the 64 to load a program back

into the same place it came from.

If we do that, then when the pro

gram tries to run, it will run the

same program that we used to

perform the load. If we set a

marker variable before we load in

the screen file, we can check that

variable when the program starts

to run again and jump to some

other place in the program. Here

is a program to load your screen

files back into the 64:

10 IF T=l THEN 40


30 T=1:LOAD F$

40 BASE=2*4096:POKE

53272,PEEK<53272)

OR 8

50 POKE 53265,PEEK

(53265JOR 32

60 FOR 1=1024 TO 2023:

POKE I, 3:NEXT

70 POKE 1024,16

80 GET A$:IF A$<>"

[SPACE]"THEN 80

90 POKE 53265,PEEK

(53265)AND 223

100 POKE 53272,PEEK

(53272)AND 247:

PRINT"[CLEAR]":CLR

:END

If you are using a disk, substitute

this line 30:

Well, that does it for now.

There's a lot of new informationhere so don't get discouraged if

some of it sounds too complicated.

Work through the programs one

at a time, and look up the Kemal

routines in your Programmer's

Reference Guide. If you stick with

it, slowly but surely you will begin

to understand the concepts pre

sented here, and you'll be ready

for the next step: would you be

lieve some machine language rou

tines to help you clear the screen

and change the screen colors? C

■

Base Graph Program forBit-Mapped Graphics

Use this base graph program, which

appeared in the Summer issue, as your

jumping off point for the programs Jfm

presents in this issue.

1 P0KE5326S,PEEK<33265)0R32

2 P0KE33272,PEEKC53272)0R8

3 FQRX=8192T0I6191:P0KEX,

0:NEXT

4 FORI=1024TG2923-PuKEI,

3:NEXT

190 GOTO240

:|_N*VRND7

210 BV=8192+RO*320+8*CH+LN

_ _

tCO rUr\t*jY > rttr^S DT } UK'%£l 1^1 ^

230 RETURN

240 POKE1024,16

230 GETR*-IFfi*O" "THEN250

RND223

270 P0KE53272JPEEK';33272>..

RND247

273 CLR:PRINT"n":ENI)

30 T=1:LOAD F$,8,l


MAKINGFRIENDSWITH

PART4

In this part, Paul shows you how to use the filters

in your Commodore 64's Sound Interface Device

(SID) to make your Commodore 64 "piano" (see

last issue) sound even more realistic.

BYPAULHIGGINBOTTOM

Have you recovered from the

VERY wordy article last time? I

hope so, because this time, we're

moving onto NEW ground. As

mentioned at the end of the last

article, we will now explore the

capabilities of SID's filter, which

has been mentioned a couple of

times but not explained fully.

So, what is a FILTER? Let's

make a comparison. You've prob

ably heard of, and maybe used,

filter paper. It's used in almost all

coffee makers. The FILTERing

action of the paper in a coffee

maker allows very fine particles

of coffee to pass through, with the

hot water, to form what we know

as the drink coffee, but does not

allow the larger particles through.

Essentially then, the filtering pro

cess is one where only PART of

the "somethings" involved are

allowed to pass through, and the

rest is not. In the case of the cof

fee filter, the water and fine coffee


particles can pass through, while

the larger ones cannot A sound

filter, on the other hand, allows

only a certain portion (or portions)

of the sound input to pass through

to the output (your speaker and

then your ears).

How do we control a filter?

Think of a potato grading ma

chine. Such a machine can be

programmed to give us a certain

selection of potatoes. If we want

just the small ones, we allow the

potatoes to roll over a tray which

has holes in it with the diameter of

the maximum size we want. The

bigger we make the holes, the

more we let through, until eventu

ally, we would have holes so big

that everything could pass through.

How about if we wanted only

medium sized potatoes? The holes

would need to be the diameter of

the MAXIMUM sized medium

potatoes. But this would allow all

the small ones through, too, so we

would have to let the potatoes

falling through the first tray roll

onto a new tray with holes slightly

smaller than the MINIMUM size.

The potatoes smaller than our

requirements would fall through

these holes, and we would take

what's left on the tray (i.e., not too

big, and not too small). Similarly,

the ones left on the very topmost

tray would be the larger ones.

This is quite similar to the SID's

sound filtering process. For exam

ple, if we only want the frequencies

below a given frequency, we use

the LOW PASS MODE in SID.

This allows only frequencies lower

than a specified frequency to pass

through to the output. Like the

potato sorter, we also have other

modes to select different portions.

We have BAND PASS MODE,

which will allow a given amount

above and below a specified fre

quency to pass through. We also

have HIGH PASS MODE (I know,

you guessed it!) which will only

allow frequencies higher than

a specified frequency to pass

through.

The "specified frequency" I

keep referring to is known as the

CUT-OFF FREQUENCY. Also,

I have made it seem like the filter

cuts out completely any sound

immediately below, slightly below

and above, or above (depending

on whether it's LOW, BAND, or

HIGH pass). This isn't so; let's take

LOW pass mode for example:

As shown in Figure 1, the filter

quiets frequencies above ihe cutoff

frequency in proportion to how far

above it they are. If a frequency is

only slightly above the cutoff,

it will be quieted slightly. If a long

way above it (relatively), it will

practically be cut out altogether.

That's the theory; now the prac

tice. After loading the final pro

gram from the last article into your

Commodore 64 (see page 59),

change the following lines:

Change line 540 to:

548 pokesid+24,15+16

Figure 1. Filters in the

LOW PASS

\\

CUTOFF

1

FREQUENCY

HIGH PASS

/' CUTOFF

1

FREQUENCY

SID Chip

s

Q■ M

BAND PASS

/ CUTOFF \1

FREQUENCY

NOTCH REJECT(LOW & HIGH)

CUTOFF

1

FREQUENCY

(From the Commodore 64 Programmer's Reference Guide, pages 200-201.)

COMMODORE: POWER'PLAY Fall 1963 57

The addition of 16 to this POKE

sets the filter to LOW PASS mode,

thus quieting frequencies higher

than the cutoff.

For BAND PASS, we would add

32 instead of 16 (quiets frequen

cies proportionate to how far

above and below the cutoff they

are), and for HIGH pass we add

64 (quiets frequencies below the

cutoff). Modes can also be added,

so we could have low and high

pass, so as to quiet frequencies

around the cutoff (this is called

NOTCH PASS, or BAND

REJECT).

Change Line 550 to:

550 read ■=>._, d ., s., r , pw ?

ere

The extra parameter C in the READ

statement is our cutoff value, which

we will put in the DATA statement

in line 600.

The extra parameter RE in the

READ statement is a parameter

not mentioned before, called RES

ONANCE. The filter emphasizes

frequencies (makes a sharper

sound) at the cutoff, and the de

gree to which it does this is known

as resonance. We can select a

value of 0-15 for this. 1 wouldn't

worry if this doesn't make a lot of

sense; it's use is really only pos

sible in machine language pro

grams, where the resonance can

be changed rapidly to produce

more complex harmonics.

Enter:

610 pokesid+23.,7+re+lfc"

SID's filter doesn't have to fil

ter all the voices. We can specify

which of the three we wish to filter.

Of course, in our "piano" pro

gram, we want all the sound to

be the same so we tell SID to filter

all the voices. This is controlled

in register 23. The value 7 equals

1+2 + 4, and each of the three

numbers added are the ones to

filter the voices 1, 2, and 3 respec

tively. The addition of RE*16 is

adding the previously explained

parameter resonance.

Change line 600's DATA to:

Now to experiment. If you run

the program with the changes

mentioned it won't sound par

ticularly different from what

you heard before you made the

changes. That's because our filter

600 data. 0.. 10, 0 .r 0,300.. 2000.. 15I

Rtta.ck !

I

Dec ity

Sustain

Re li?3St

H

u

E

F'u Isewidth

C'.ito + t

Make sure line 510 reads;

510 >..'oice=0 :oc.x = 3

Enter:

620 ch=int <'-/'£:> scl»C-

ch*8630 poke ■=■ id+2l,cl

These last two lines set the

cutoff frequency, C. The cutoff is

specified in registers 21 and 22

and can range from 0-2047. Un

like the way we have specified

values larger than 255 before (i.e.,

"lots" of 256 + some other value

between zero and 255), this one is

specified in "lots" of eight and some

other value [remainder] between

zero and seven, so we can cal

culate how many eights by finding

the integer value of the cutoff

divided by eight (ch=int(c/8)) and

find the remainder by subtracting

how many eights multiplied

by eight from the cutoff (c-ch*8).

mode is LOW PASS, and the

cutoff is almost at maximum,

therefore letting almost all the

sound through, since almost all

will have frequencies lower than

the cutoff, if we change the value

of the cutoff in line 600 from 2000

to, say, 1200 and run the program

again, you should definitely be

able to hear a difference. The

sound seems muffled. This is be

cause the filter has removed a lot

of the high frequency parts (har

monics) of the sound. (Note: in

between the two values used for

cutoff here, you may have noticed

that a good piano sound could be

made. Experiment!)

If we now change the +16 to

+ 64 in line 540 so that we select

HIGH PASS filter mode instead

and run the program again, we will

hear that the "lows" have gone

from the sound, because only

those frequencies higher than the

cutoff are getting through without

58 COMMODORE: POWER/PLAY Pall 1983

being quieted. Now change the

cutoff in line 600 to 1800 and run

the program again and you'll hear

that we've REALLY chopped out

any low harmonics, and it sounds

more like a harpsichord.

Try changing the OCT (octave)

variable (between 1 and 6) and

the WAVE (waveform) variable

(one of 16, 32, 64, 128) in line 510

and you should begin to see that

the filter is probably the feature

which makes the SID surpass any

sound chip around.

If you really want to get adven

turous, you might be able to work

out how to change the cutoff

dynamically (while the notes are

being played) to really produce

some interesting effects (like guitar

"twangs" for example).

Next time we'll be going from

this "playing" program to one

where we can put a tune into

the program in DATA statements

and thus have the computer play

FOR us!

The Commodore 64 Pro

grammer's Reference Guide gives

a lot of information on the SID and

programming it (as well as another

400 pages on loads of other in

teresting aspects), so I advise you

to get a copy.

Good luck! C

100

110

120

130

140

150

200

300

310

400

410

420

430

500

510

520

530

540

550

560

570

580

585

590

600

686

Program from Part 3

Use this program as a reference for Paul's changes here in Par! 4.

FR=3520 :REM NOTE 'A1 IN

TOP OCTAVE

CO=2A<1/12)

FOR 1=1 TO 9:FR=FR/CO:NEXT

SS=16777216

CS=1022730

FC=SS/CS

DIM F(7,ll)

FOR 1=0 TO 11

S=FR*FC

FOR J=7 TO 0 STEP-1

:F(J,I)=S:S=S/2

NEXT

FR=FR*C0

NEXT

SID=54272

VOICE=0:OCT=4:WAVE=32

VM=7:HI=256

FOR 1=0 TO 23:POKE SID+1,0

:NEXT

POKE SID+24,15

READ A,D,S,R,PW

FOR 1=0 TO 2:INDEX=SID+I*

VM

POKE INDEX+5,A*16+D

POKE INDEX+6,S*16+R

POKE INDEX+2,PW AND 255

NEXT

DATA 5,11,10,0,800

POKE INDEX+3,PW/HI

700 K$ = "Q2W3ER5T6Y7UI9O0Pl?-*[POUND]""

710 DIM K(255)

720 FOR 1=1 TO LEN(K$)

730 K(ASC(MID$(K$,I,1)))=1

740 NEXT

750 PRINT:PRINT"[SPACE]2

[SPACE]3[SPACE2]5[SPACE]6

[SPACE]7[SPACE2]9[SPACE]0

[SPACE2]-[SPACE,POUND]"

760 PRINT"Q[SPACE]W[SPACE]E

[SPACE]R[SPACE]T[SPACE]Y

[SPACE]U[SPACE]I[SPACE]0

[SPACE]P[SPACE]@[SPACE]*

[SPACE]*■

800 GET A$:IF A$=""GOTO 800

810 KEY=K(ASC(A$))-l

:IF KEY<0 GOTO 800

820 IF KEY>11 THEN FRQ=F(0CT+

1,KEY-12):GOTO 835

830 FRQ=F(OCT,KEY)

835 FH=INT(FRQ/HI)

:FL=FRQ-FH*HI

840 INDEX=SID+VOICE*VM

850 POKE INDEX,FL:POKE INDEX+

1,FH

860 POKE INDEX+4,WAVE

:POKE INDEX+4,WAVE+1

870 VOICE=VOICE+1:IF V0ICE>2

THEN VOICE=0

880 GOTO 800


no more pencils,

no more books

Interactive LOGO continued

the top part of the screen) you will have little or no

gravitational pull. As you get closer to the planet

LOGO's surface, gravity will become very strong

LOGO Lander For Use With

The Commodore 64 and LOGO.

and you will have to keep your rockets blasting

away from the planet in order not to be sucked

down to a fiery and inglorious end. C

TO

END

TO

END

TO

END

LANDER

MAKE "HISCORE (

TITLE

START

TITLE

CLEARTEXT

CURSOR

CURSOR

PRINT

PRINT

PRINT

PRINT

CURSOR

CURSOR

CURSOR

CURSOR

CURSOR

CURSOR

PRINT

PRINT

CURSOR

CURSOR

12

0 5

CURSOR

2 PRINT

PRINT

[PLANT LOGO

[][USE

[]5 1

5 1

5 1

5 1

5 1

5 1

[]

0

1

2

3k

5

10000 )

15 0 PRINT [LOGO LANDER]

[BY DAVID MALMBERG]

[TRY TO

WITHOUT

the fol: owi

PRINT

PRINT

PRINT

PRINT

PRINT

PRINT

[R - TO

[L - TO

[A - TO

[S - TO

[D - TO

[0 TO 9

[ENTER SKILL LEVEL:

19

19MAKE "HARD

IF :HARD =

IF :HARD =

MAKE "HARD

START

SET.UP

MOVE : TIME

1

1

LAND YOUR COMMAND MODULE ON THE]

CRASHING! ! !]

CONTROL KEYS:]

ROTATE MODULE RIGHT]

ROTATE MODULE LEFT]

BLAST MODULE TOWARD LEFT]

BLAST MODULE FORWARD]

BLAST MODULE TOWARD RIGHT]

TO CHANGE BLAST FORCE]

1 - EASY]

8 PRINT [2 - AVERAGE]

9 PRINT [3 - HARD]FIRST

1 MAKE

3 MAKE

2

REQUEST

"HARD 3

"HARD 1

STOP

STOP


TO

END

TO

END

TO

SET.UP

FULLSCREEN

PENUP

SETXY ( -155

SETHEADING 9

PENDOWN

FORWARD 310

SETX 0

SETY C -126

PENUP

MAKE "FORCE

MAKE "VX 1

MAKE "VY ( -

SETHEADING 1

MAKE "TIME 0

) ( -10

)

1

1 )50

MAKE "GFACTOR 0.4 +

SETXY ( -150

MOVE :TIME

) 120

MAKE "GF ( YCOR / 1

20 )

( ( 3 - :HARD ) / 10 )

00 ) - 1.25

MAKE "GRAVITY GFACTOR * GF * GF

MAKE "VY :VY

MAKE "NEW.X

MAKE "NEW.Y

LAND?

SETXY :NEW.X

BOUNCE?

COMMAND

MOVE :TIME +

LAND?

IF :NEW.Y >SETY C -120

MAKE "SPEED

TEST ANYOF (

- :GRAVITY

XCOR +

YCOR +

:NEW.Y

1

( -120)

SQRT (

:SPEED

IFTRUE EXPLOSION

WAIT 200

MAKE "MILES

MAKE "SCORE

:MIL

NODRAW

SQRT (

INTEGER

:VX

:VY

) STOP

( :VX * :VX ) + ( :VY * :VY ) )

> 3 * :HARD ) C :VY < -2 * :HARD )

XCOR * XCOR )

10 * ( 200 - : SPEED + rVY - ( :TIME/ 5 )- 2 *

COMMODORE' POWER/PLAY Fall 1983 61

no more pencils,

no more books...

END

TO

END

TO

END

TO

END

TO

IFTRUE PRINT [YOU CRASHED IN FLAMES!!!] MAKE "SCORE:SCORE - 1000

IFFALSE PRINT [GOOD LANDING!!!]

CLEARINPUT

PRINT []

PRINT! [MILES FROM TARGET

PRINT! [IMPACT VELOCITY =]PRINT1 [VERTICAL SPEED = ]

=] PRINT :MILES

PRINT :SPEED

PRINT :VY

PRINT1 [FLIGHT TIME s] PRINT :TIMEPRINT []

PRINT! [SCORE =] PRINT :SCORE

IF :HISCORE / :SCORE PRINT

PRINT []

PRINT [HIT RETURN TO PLAY

CLEARINPUT

MAKE "ANSWER REQUEST

IF :ANSWER = [] START STOP

TOPLEVEL

EXPLOSION

HIDETURTLE

PENCOLOR 2

PENDOWN

SETHEADING 2^0

REPEAT 9 [FORWARD 15 BACK

WAIT :Q

IF :Q = 0 STOP

WAIT :Q - 1

BOUNCE?

IF XCOR >150 MAKE "VX ( -IF XCOR < -150 MAKE "VX (IF YCOR S 125 MAKE "VY ( -

COMMAND

MAKE "KEY GET.KEY

[A NEW HIGH SCORE!!]MAKE"HISCORE:SCORE

AGAIN]

15 RIGHT 30]

:VX ) STOP

- :VX ) STOP

:VY J


CLEARINPUT

IF :KEY

IF :KEY

IF :KEY

IF :KEY

IF :KEY

IF :KEY

TEST NUMBER?

IFFALSE STOP

MAKE "FORCE :KEY

" STOP

"R RIGHT 30 STOP

"L LEFT 30 STOP

"A MAKE "ANGLE 270 THRUST STOP

"S MAKE "ANGLE 0 THRUST STOP

"D MAKE "ANGLE 90 THRUST STOP

:KEY

END

TO GET.KEY

IF RC? OUTPUT READCHARACTER

OUTPUT "

END

TO THRUST

MAKE "BLAST :ANGLE + HEADING

IF :BLAST > 360 MAKE "BLAST :BLAST - 360MAKE "VX :VX +■ :FORCE * ( SIN :BLAST )

MAKE "VY :VY + :FORCE * ( COS :BLAST )

END

DRILEY SOFTWARE

For Commodore 64"

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kids" corner

A Note from New Mexicoby Betsy Byrne

Kids in Nova Scotia and kids

in Florida use their Commodore

computers for exactly the same

kinds of things. How did I come

by this amazing bit of information,

and why am I telling you? It seems

like a good way to begin talking

about the overwhelmingly positive

response to Kids' Comer I have

been receiving from Commodore

users all over the continent. [ have

to admit that 1 did fudge a little,

and send out a letter describing

what I was doing with the kids sec

tion to all the Commodore user

groups. 1 even included a nifty

questionnaire, so I could get an

accurate picture of YOU, my read

ers, and so 1 could be sure that

the things 1 put in are the things

that kids actually want in a section

for kids.

A big reason I decided to

do this was because the time be

tween writing these articles and

their publication (known as lead

time) can be several months, and

I just couldn't wait to tell every

body the good news about Kids'

Corner. I also wanted to get all

those keyboards clicking out there,

generating some good articles and

programs for you to read and try

out. And it really worked—I've

received some great articles and

programs from kids in Commo

dore user groups, as you will see

as you read further in this issue.

The answers 1 received to my

questionnaires have been a big

help in planning this issue. I want

to thank all of you who took the

time and effort to fill them out and

send them back. I also thank all

the user groups that published the

letter and the form in their news

letters. If any kids (or adults) that

are reading this have not yet con

tacted the group in their area, I

would like to suggest that you do

so. There is no better way to get

information about using your

Commodore computer.

Now I would like to share with

you some of the mail I have been

getting. After reading some of

these I think you will understand

why the trip to the mailbox has

become one of the high points

in my day!

From Andrew Cornwall:

(Andy is the secretary of the Nova

Scotia Commodore Computer

Users Group)

"One observation I have from

watching my son and his friends

working with his VIC (Dad has a

PET) is that kids with less than

high-school education can often

program quite well but don't know

what to program. Perhaps it would

be interesting for these kids to

learn of the science projects and

other non-game applications that

their contemporaries have under

taken. Good luck on your maga

zine articles." (I think the story

about the 1SE Fair winners might

just fit the bill!)

The next few comments are

taken from some of the question

naires. In answer to the question:

"What hints or suggestions do you

have for other kids using Commo

dore computers", I heard from:

VinceMora, 16, Albuquerque,

NewMexico.... "Don't play games

—do your own programming."

Debbie Johnson, 12, Iowa—

"Get the games so you don't

have to worry about program

ming to play."

Both these answers were pretty

popular, reflecting, I think, that

programmers and users are run

ning neck-and-neck in the general

computer-owning population. This

may sound like heresy, but it is

becoming perfectly all right to use

your computer to run all the great

software that is now available.

Let's face it. everyone isn't inter

ested in learning programming in

order to use their home computer.

After taking a programming class

and many hours of instruction

from my patient husband, much

of my computing time is still spent

word processing and teaching kids

about computers. Let me know

what YOU think about the great

"Programmer versus User" debate!

Then again, the same Debbie

Johnson from Iowa had an answer

that would seem to put her in the

programmer's comer. In answer to

"What would you like to do with

your computer, but can't", Debbie

answered: "Program a really fun

(and hard) game"! (Her reason for

not being able to do this was "I

don't know how yet", so maybe

it's just a matter of time!)


kids9 corner

Lisa Pomeranz, age 8.6, from

New York replied to the same

question. Lisa says: "1 would like

to make the computer talk!" (You

may be able to do that sooner

than you think, Lisa. I say this with

authority, because my Commo

dore 64 already does! There is an

article elsewhere in this issue that

will tell you about my family's ex

periences with Commodore's new

speech module.)

Robbie Bowlby, Eastern Pas

sage, Nova Scotia, would like

to be able to write machine lan

guage. His suggestion to other

users is one that we all might take

heed of: "Don't leave discs in the

drive when turning it on (or off)"

(Robbie, there is a new book out

that my husband Dan and I rec

ommend to anyone who is finding

ML "impossible" or "incomprehen

sible". The name of it is Machine

Language for Beginners and it

was easy enough even for ME!

See the review in this issue.)

A surprisingly large number of

parents and teachers, when asked

what they would like their kids to

be using the computer for (as op

posed to what they are using it

for) answered that their kids are

already using the computer exactly

as they would wish. It's encourag

ing to me that kids and parents

(and even teachers) agree on my

favorite subject!

One last item, that 1 just couldn't

resist sharing with you. The follow

ing paragraph is an excerpt from

the newsletter of the Commodore

Users Group of Wichita (Kansas),

Inc. and was written by Walt

Lounsbery, Editor and General

Manager:

"The children's section for

Power/Play Magazine is a great

step forward in concept, and I

think it deserves any support you

can give it. I know that some other

magazines have similar depart

ments, and there even used to

be a computer magazine for kids

published in Sedalia, Missouri.

However I think that Ms. Byrne's

approach is fresh, enthusiastic,

and imaginative."

I swear to you that I have never

even MET this perceptive man,

but he did more than just brighten

my day with that paragraph. He

(and the rest of my new computer

correspondents) let me know that

this section is something that peo

ple—kids AND parents—really

want to read. And there was noth

ing in the world that I wanted to

read more than that. C

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How to Submit Things

to Kids' Corner

What To Send

Any Commodore Kid

whose submission is

published will receive

the Commodore-made

software product oftheir

choice. Adults will be paid

the normal rate perpage

that any other author gets

from Commodore. So, we

can all have fun talking

about our favorite subject,

show offsome ofthe great

programs and ideas I know

are out there, andgetpaid

for it in the bargain!

Here are some sugges

tions on the kinds ofstuff

you might like to send in:

From KidsPrograms and articles fay you

on any computing subject. For

instance, a really neat game you

wrote just for fun, or a program

you made to help with your

schoolwork or your favorite

hobby. A review of one of Com

modore's new games or other

Commodore software. After all,

this is your place to sound off

about your likes and dislikes. A

story that you write yourself about

computers, or some computer

poetry, written by either you or

your computer might be fun to try.

Cartoons, drawings or unusual

photos with computers in them are

also good to send.

From GrownupsPrograms and articles by par

ents, grandparents, or teachers

who use Commodore computers

with children, such as:

a. Programs written for very

young children (1-6).

b. Articles about your child

and her/his computer.

c. Letters to the editor about

children and computers.

d. Reviews of software for

children.

e. Articles about Commo

dore computers being

used in schools.

f. Interesting or unusual

pictures of kids and

computers.

How to Send StuffPrograms: Must be sent on

disk or tape, clearly marked with

computer type and your name,

address, and PHONE NUMBER.

If your program is for the VIC,

mark the label with the amount of

memory you had plugged in when

you saved the program. Send a

printout (listing) if you can, and

BE SURE that your disk or tape is

mailed in a PADDED protective

envelope. Tapes should be in a

mailing case, disks between two

pieces of stiff cardboard. Just last

week I found a broken, melted

tape in my mailbox, mailed with

out protection in a regular en

velope. Protective envelopes are

found at office supply stores for

around 25 cents. They're worth it!

Articles, Stories, Poems,

etc.: Should be typed or com

puter printed, double spaced,

each page numbered, and headed

with the title and author's name,

address, and phone number. I

can, if absolutely necessary, accept

text that is neatly hand printed

on every other line, each page

numbered and headed as des

cribed above.

Photographs: Color or black

and white, preferably 35mm.

Taped or otherwise attached to a

stiff piece of paper or cardboard

(but make sure they can be re

moved without damaging them}.

Label the paper with some type of

COMMODORE: POWER/PLAY Fall 19B3 67

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kids'corner

caption, the name(s) of the per

sons) pictured, and the name,

address, and phone number of

the sender. (School pictures are

just fine.)

Drawings: Black and white

might be best; at least outline

things in a dark color if you can.

Make them big enough that de

tails will show if they have to be

reduced. If you are sending a

cartoon, print the captions in the

balloons very carefully, or get

someone who is really good at print

ing to do the words for you. Mail

them using the same directions as

for photographs.

[f you are sending a program,

don't forget to include the di

rections! It's a good idea to have

them right in the program if you

can. Be sure to keep a copy of ev

erything you send. I might need

to call you about it, and unfortu

nately, I can't send anything back.

If you have already sent some

thing in and didn't see it in this

issue, remember that we have to

get Power/Play ready for printing

almost THREE months before you

read it! If something you sent is

going to be in the magazine, you

will probably get a phone call from

me before you see it in print so

don't forget to include your AREA

CODE and phone number.

Even if you are sending a draw

ing, photo or program, write some

thing that tells a little bit about

YOU. Don't forget to send a pic

ture of yourself!

The address to send things to is:

COMMODORE KIDS

c/o BETSY BYRNE

6212 KARLSON NE

ALBUQUERQUE NM 87113 C

68 COMMODORE: POWER'PLAY Fall 1983

VIC 20 Drawing Contest!

Power/Plan's kids' section is having a contest!

Not the programming contest that you might ex

pect from one of Commodore's magazines; instead,

we're having a VIC 20 computer drawing contest

that everyone can enter. Even if you don't know

how to program or aren't reading too well yet, you

can enter this contest. All you need is a VIC and a

program called Alpha Draw —a drawing program

for the VIC 20.

Alpha Draw is included in Commodore's Sampler

Six Pack, along with a music program, two adven

ture games and two action games. Using Alpha

Draw you can draw on the screen with any of the

numbers, letters, characters or right and left side

Commodore graphic shapes, and save to tape the

beautiful pictures that you make.

But that's not all! The VIC 20 has a built-in feature

called multi-color that will make ordinary, everyday

characters and shapes look very different. When

you press the "J" key in Alpha Draw to put the VIC

in multi-color mode, magic things begin to happen.

An ordinary "X" can become a creepy-crawly

spider, and the "<shifted> X" (or club sign, like

the playing card suit) makes beautiful flowers, or

blossoms on a tree or bush.

There are shapes that look like bricks and others

that look like jet planes and racing cars. Explore dif

ferent color (screen color makes a difference) and

character combinations and make a brick building

complete with doors, windows and a flag flying from

the roof (a flag can be made from four characters,

one that looks like a lot of stars, and a striped one

repeated three times). You can use the reverse

"R key to make a drawing right out of the movie

"TRON". The only limit to Alpha Draw pictures

and designs is your imagination!

After you make your picture with Alpha Draw,

save it on a blank tape and send it to Commodore

Kids. (A hint about saving: be sure to have your tape

set up and the "play" and "record" buttons pressed

before you press "S" to save your screen.) Follow

the directions you will find elsewhere in the kids'

section on how to send things. Good luck! C

Contest Rules

1. There will be a prize awarded for the best pic

ture in three age groups:

Group A: age 7 and under

Group B: age 8 to 11

Group C: age 12 to 18

2. You may enter as many times as you like,

but each tape must have only ONE picture on

each side.

3. Every tape label must be clearly marked with

the NAME, AGE, ADDRESS, and AREA CODE

and PHONE NUMBER of the entrant, and the

title of the entry. Repeat the same information on

a separate sheet of paper that you enclose WITH

the tape. If you like, let us know a little bit about

yourself, and send a picture of YOU.

4. PRIZES: The winner in each age group will

receive the Commodore VIC 20 program of your

choice and a year's subscription to Power/Play.

5- Winners will be announced, with a picture

of the winning entry in the Spring 1984 issue of

Power/Play.

6. All entries become the property of Power/Play

magazine, and none can be returned. By entering

the contest, you give your permission to Power/

Play to print a screen shot of your picture in the

magazine.


Multi-Drawby Pete Lobl

Although Pete Lobl is a successful busi

nessman andpresident ofthe Long Island

VIC Enthusiasts (LIVE) user group, he's

only 15. Watch for a story on Pete in the

Winter issue.

When the Commodore 64 was introduced, it

drew comments from knowledgeable computer ex

perts that shook the entire industry. By the time that

you read this, there will be lots of quality programs

available for the 64. But as I write, there isn't much

out there in the way of 64 software, so my attitude

is: why wait if I can do it myself? You can too. only

don't be discouraged if everything doesn't make

sense at first; in time it will all drop into place. This

article and the accompanying program focus on

what will probably be two of the most exploited hid

den powers of the Commodore 64: multi-color bit

mapping and split screens using both the interrupts

and the raster scan and enable registers.

Multi-draw is a little (not that little!) pro

gram that I wrote when there wasn't a

commercially available drawing program.

(As of this writing there are some very

well done programs on the market.) In any

event, my program allows you to draw in

16 colors on a color page (located at 8192decimal, $2000 hex). It uses keys or joy

stick to move the crosshair or brush.

Multi-Color PlottingMulti-color bit-map mode allows you to display

four different colors in an eight dot by eight dot area

of the screen. In normal or standard bit-map mode

the horizontal resolution is 320 dots by 200 dots. In

multi-color bit mapping horizontal resolution is de

creased to 160 dots per line (or 160 by 200); but,

because of the greater flexibility in color combina

tions, the loss in resolution is not a severe problem

or handicap.

Bit mapping uses an 8K section of memory to

store each dot of the screen display (320 by 200

equals 64,000 dots). Multi-color also needs an

8K section of memory. You select colors in this

mode from four different locations. The following

chart explains:

COL0R#

0

1

2

2

BIT

PAIR

00

01

10

11

Where Color Comes

From {Decimal, Hex)

Background Color (53281,

$D021)

Low four bits of screen RAM

(1024-2048, $0400-$0700)

Upper four bits screen RAM

(1024-2048,$0400-$0700)

Color Memory (55296-56296,

$D800-$DA00)

In hi-res bit mapping, in order to plot a point,

you must first find the correct byte in your 8K map

and turn the right bit ON by storing a one there. In

multi-color mode things get more complex. To re

ceive the different colors, the dots are now replaced

by 12-bit-wide dots. With two bits across, the dot

can have one of four possible combinations, hence

the four different colors. Because the dots are now

twice as wide, the decrease in resolution should be

more understandable. This excellent color output

explains why multi-color mode has been the choice

of machine language programmers when using hi

res graphics. The reason I say machine language is

because plotting or drawing in hi-res is much too


slow if done completely from BASIC. The combina

tion of both BASIC and machine language can make

a powerful program for games or plotting. As a mat

ter of fact that's exactly what Multi-Draw is; a hybrid

machine code/BASIC program.

Multi-Draw is a little (not that little!) program that

I wrote when there wasn't a commercially available

drawing program. (As of this writing there are some

very well done programs on the market.) In any

event, my program allows you to draw in 16 colors

on a color page (located at 8192 decimal, $2000

hex). It uses keys or joystick to move the cross

hair or brush.

There are several machine code routines POKEd

into memory from BASIC using READ and DATA

statements. They are called with a SYS command

while the program is running. Following is a list of

the routines I have used, and also a list of com

mands for the program. You can receive the dis

assembly of the routines from me by sending a

self-addressed stamped letter to the address at the

end of this article.

ML Routines and Their Locations in Memory

CALL PLOT

PLOT 3 (plot in color 3)

PLOT 2 (plot in color 2)

PLOT1 (plot in color 1)

PLOT 0 (erase)

CLR SCREEN

REVERSE SCREEN

FILL A CERTAIN COLOR #

READ JOYSTICK

SET UP INTERRUPT

RASTER SCAN INTERRUPT

(split-screen)

864_

2048

2304

2560

2816

3072

3200

3328

3584

3712

3840

Sprite data is mixed in with these routines above

their ending locations. There is also a self-modifying

SAVE routine in machine code at 5376. The cas

sette buffer was moved to 4096 ($1000) because

my routines exist in the cassette buffer. Therefore

loads or saves to tape would wipe them out. This is

simply done by changing pointers at 178-179 deci

mal. The buffer can be moved anywhere in RAM.

and allows us to make auto-run tape loads.

List of Multi-Draw Commands< -> Toggles between joystick/key

</> Toggles fast/slow crosshair

<P> Picks up pen (move mode) or puts it

down (draw mode)

< ,*> Inc/dec text background color

< R> Reverses screen

< Q> Changes cursor increment between

points (enter 1-9 for input)

<shift> Decrements cursor color

<F1> Color 1

<F3> Color 2

<F5> Color 3

<:,D> Inc/dec current drawing color

<F7/F8> Inc/dec background

<HOME> Clears screen

< +> Toggles crosshair on/off

< F> Fills a specified color # (1,2,3) with a

color value (0-15)

< E> Erase mode (color 0) (use F1,F3,F5 to

go back to normal)

Program Listing* * * * IMPORTANT* * * Before running the program

you must enter a line directly into your computer

from the immediate mode;

POKE 44,64:POKE 44*256,0:NEW

<re turn >

Do this before loading or running this program.

All it does is move BASIC up in memory to allow

room for the machine code and hi-res screen. The

program won't work without it, so don't forget.

Program NotesSAVE & LOAD: The save and load routine I use

is a bit unorthodox. I save three files onto tape/disk

for each screen: 1 for RAM, 1 for bit map, 1 for color

RAM. After entering the file name in the save/load


kids"corner

subroutines, the program searches for three pro

grams on that device, even though you entered only

one file name. What happened was that 1 added a 1,

then 2, then 3 as the rightmost character during the

save. This makes the save somewhat faster, taking

only about 20 seconds to load a screen from disk.

(Tape of course will be longer.) Don't add the num

bers when asked fora file name; the program does

it for you. The only penalty that occurs because of

this is that the filename can only be 15 characters

instead of the normal 16.

Raster Scan: Multi-draw has a window at the

bottom of the screen in which normal characters can

be displayed. This effect is possible because of the

raster-scan interrupt, a complex but powerful ability

of the 64. The location that controls where the win

dow will start is at 3846. Break out of the program

by pressing the stop key, and try POKing different

values into that location (0-255). You will notice that

the window will get larger with smaller numbers

POKEd in. The technique that allows this will also

make it possible to have more than eight sprites on

the screen at once or multi-color and standard color

at the same time. You could even bit-map the entire

screen with sprites!! C

7b gel a copy of Multi-Draw on disk, send $5.00 and a stomped,

self-addressed return mailer to Pete at; 31 Maple Drive. Lindenhurst.

NY 11757.

Multi-Draw

0 TO MRS. BYRNE WHO GAVE ME A CHANCE TO W

ALSO TO MR. JIM BUTTERFIELD WHO FIXED

5

6

REM MANY THANKS

RITE THIS.

REM MANY REGARDS

MY SPLIT-SCREEN.

REM ***************************************************

***********************

REM MAKE SURE YOU RAISED BASIC BY TYPING POKE44,64

:POKE64*256,0:NEW

REM BEFORE ENTERING OR LOADING THIS tr*****************

***********************

ON A GOTO 981,982,983

IF PEEK(44)<>64 THEN PRINT"[CLEAR,DOWN]BASIC[SPACE]HAS

[SPACE]NOT[SPACE]BEEN[SPACE]MOVED.[SPACE]RESTART[SPACE]

! ! !":LIST 2-4

7 POKE 3846,226:POKE 53281,6:POKE 53280,14:POKE 178,0

:POKE 179,16:PRINT"[L. BLUE]"

10 PRINT"[CLEAR,DOWN3,SPACE13]MULTI-DRAW[SPACE]64"

15 PRINT"[DOWN,SPACE13]BY:[SPACE]PETE[SPACE]LOBL"

16 PRINT"[DOWN,SPACE12]VERSION[SPACE]5/31/8 3"

20 PRINT"[DOWN5]PLEASEESPACE]WAIT,[SPACE]READING[SPACE'

[SPACE]MACHINE[SPACE]CODE..."

DIM C$(15) ,CH% (11) :P$ = "[HOME]":FOR 1 = 1 TO 22

:P$=P$+"[DOWN]":NEXT:F0R 1=0 TO 15:READ C$(I):NEXT

FOR 1=1 TO 10:READ X%{I),Y%(I):NEXT

C1=6:C2=2:C3=1:CC=1:K$="JOY":K=0:P=1:PE$="DOW":TB=14

:MB=15:X=64:Y=88:CE=6

IN

30

40

50


60

65

67

68

69

70

80

82

84

86

88

90

92

93

94

96

98

99

100

105

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

PE=1

:RJ =

POKE

:MV=l:FS$="FAS":FS=l:PL=864:CL=3072:RV=3 200:FL=3328

3584:IN=3712

2040,35:POKE 2041,39:POKE 2042,43:POKE 2043,47

:P0KE 53277,15:POKE 53271,4

FOR

:CY =

FOR

POKE

1=53287 TO 53291:POKE I,1:NEXT

829

1=53248 TO 53252 STEP 2:POKE I

53251,128:POKE 53249,104:POKE

GOSUB 1000: REM READ IN ML

FOR

FOR

FOR

FOR

FOR

1=1 TO 63:READ A:POKE 2240+1,A





YC=53255:XC=53254:X1=6:Y1=43

POKE XC,X*2+X1:POKE YC,Y+Y1:SYS IN

:POKE 56334,0:SYS CL

POKE 689,TB:POKE 704,MB:POKE 53269

:GOSUB 990:GOSUB 840:POKE 53280,Cl

POKE

:POKE 53264,7:CX=828

,32:NEXT

53253,170

:NEXT:POKE 2240,99

:NEXT

:NEXT

:NEXT

:NEXT

:POKE 53274,241

,15:PRINT P$"[BLUE]"

848,CC:POKE 849,C1:POKE 850,C2:POKE 851,C3

:POKE 53269,7

FOR

:SYS

FOR

1=0 TO 175:POKE CY,I:POKE CX,0

PL:NEXT

1=0 TO 124:POKE CX,I:POKE CY,0

:POKE CY,175:SYS PL:NEXT

POKE

IF

:SYS PL:POKE CX,124

:SYS PL:POKE CX,I

53269,15:POKE 198,0:H=124:HY=175

K THEN 120

POKE 650,.:SYS RJ:A=PEEK(679):IF

Q=X%(A)*MV+X:R=Y%(A}*MV+Y:IF Q>H

IF

IF

IF

X=Q

IF

Q<.THEN Q=H+Q+1

R>HY THEN R=R-HY-1:GOTO 111

R<.THEN R=HY+R+1

:Y=R:POKE CX,X:POKE CY,Y:IF PE

FS=0 THEN GOSUB 850

POKE XC,X*2+Xl:POKE YC,Y+Y1:GOTO

GET

IF

A$:IF A$=""THEN 100

K=0 THEN 138

POKE 650,128:IF A$O"I"THEN 124

A=2

IF

A=8

IF

A=6

IF

:GOTO 107

ASO"0"THEN 126

:GOTO 107

A$O"J"THEN 128

:GOTO 107

A$O"N"THEN 130

A=.THEN 120

THEN Q=Q-H-1:GOTO 109

THEN SYS PL

100


kills'corner

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

145

146

147

148

149

150

153

154

155

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

165

166

167

A=10:GOTO 107

IF A$O"M"THEN 132

A=4:GOTO 107

IF AS<>","THEN 134

A=7:G0T0 107

IF A$O"K"THEN 136

A=3:G0T0 107

IF A$O"0MTHEN 138

A=5:G0T0 107

POKE 198,0:IF A$O"-"THEN 141

IF K THEN K=0:K$="JOX":GOSUB 990:GOSUB 840:GOTO

K=1:K$="KEY":GOSUB 990:GOSUB 840:GOTO 100

IF A$O"E"THEN 143

CC=0:POKE 848,0:GOSUB 990:GOSUB 840:GOTO 100

IF A$="R"THEN SYS RV:G0T0 100

IF A$ = "[F7]"THEN A=PEEK(704):A=(A+l)*-(A<15)

:POKE 704,A:GOTO 100

IF A$ ="[F8]"THEN A=PEEK(704):A=A-1

:A=A+{(SGN{A)=-1)*(-16)):POKE 704,A:GOTO 100

IF A$ = "*"THEN A=PEEK(689):A=(A+1)*-(A<15):POKE

:GOT0 100

IF A$="*"THEN A=PEEK(689):A=A-1

:A=A+((SGN(A)=-1)*(-16)):POKE 689,A:GOTO 100

IF A$="/"THEN A=PEEK(53290):A=(A+l)*-(A<255)

:P0KE 53290,A:G0T0 100

IF A$="?"THEN A=PEEK<53290):A=A-1

:A=A+((SGN(A)=-l)*(-256)):POKE 53290,A:G0T0 100

IF A$<>"[POUND]"THEN 156

IF FS THEN FS=0:FS$="SLO":GOTO 180

FS=1:FS$="FAS":GOTO 180

IF A$O"+"THEN 159

IF PEEK(53269)=15 THEN POKE 53269,7:GOTO 100

POKE 53269,15:GOTO 100

IF A$O"P"THEN 162

IF PE THEN PE=0:PE$="UP[SPACE]":GOSUB 990:GOSUB

:GOTO 10 0

PE=1:PE$="DOW":GOSUB 990:GOSUB 840:GOTO 100

IF A$<>"[HOME]"THEN 164

SYS CL:GOSUB 990:GOSUB 840:GOTO 90

IF A$O"L"THEN 166

GOSUB 950.-GOSUB 990:GOSUB 840:GOTO 100

IF A$<>"S"THEN 168

GOSUB 900:GOSUB 990:PRINT P$"[DOWN2,UP2]":GOSUB

:GOTO 100

100

689,A

840

840


168 IF A$O"M"THEN 170

169 GOSUB 182:POKE 53269,0:GOSUB 860:GOSUB 870

:POKE 3846,226:POKE 53269,15:GOTO 184

170 IF A$O"X"THEN 200

171 POKE 53269,0:GOSUB 860:PRINT"[CLEAR,DOWN]I [SPACE]HOPE

[SPACE]YOU[SPACE]HAD[SPACE]FUN,[SPACE]SEE[SPACE]YA '

[SPACE]NEXT[SPACE]TIME"

172 PRINT"[DOWN]OH,[SPACE]WHY[SPACE]DON'T[SPACE]YOU[SPACE]

EXPERIMENT[SPACE]WITH"

173 PRINT"[DOWN]LOCATION[SPACE]384 6.[SPACE]POKE[SPACE]

DIFFERENT[SPACE]NUMBERS"

174 PRINT"[DOWN]THERE. [SPACE2]YOU[SPACE]MAY[SPACE]NOT

[SPACE]KNOW[SPACE]IT,[SPACE]BUT[SPACE]YOU'LL"

175 PRINT"[DOWN]BE[SPACE]CONTROLLING[SPACE]THE[SPACE]

RASTER[SPACE]INTERRUPT!!!"

176 PRINT"[DOWN3]TILL[SPACE]NEXT[SPACE]TIME,[SPACE]HAVE

[SPACE] FUN ":END

180 GOSUB 990:GOSUB 840:GOTO 100

182 PRINT P$"[SPACE,RVS,SPACE12]PLEASE[SPACE]WAIT[SPACE15,

RVOFF]"P$

183 A=5376:B=1024:C=2023:FOR I=B TO C:POKE A,PEEK{I):A=A+1

:NEXT:RETURN

184 A=5376:B=1024:C=2023:FOR I=B TO C:POKE I,PEEK(A):A=A+1

:NEXT:GOSUB 840:GOTO 100

199 REM COMMANDS CONTINUED ****

200 IF A5<>"Q"THEN 204

201 GOSUB 990:PRINT P$:INPUT"[RVS]NEW[SPACE]INCREMENT

[SPACE]M;A$:A=INT{VAL(A$)):IP A<1 THEN A=l

202 IF A>9 THEN A=9

203 MV=A:GOSUB 990:GOSUB 840:GOTO 100

204 IF A$O":"THEN 209

205 A=CE:A=(A+1)*-(A<15):POKE 848+CC,A:GOSUB 990:CE=A

:POKE 53280,CE

206 IF CC=2 THEN C2=A:GOSUB 840:GOTO 100


208 C1=A:GOSUB 840:GOTO 100

209 IF A$O"D"THEN 214

210 A=CE:A=A-l:A=A+{(SGN(A)=-1)*(-16)):GOSUB 990:CE=A

:POKE 53280,CE

211 POKE 848+CC,A:IF CC=2 THEN C2=A:GOSUB 840:GOTO 100


213 C1=A:GOSUB 840:GOTO 100

214 IF A$<>"[Fl]"THEN 216


kids"corner

215 POKE 848,1:CE=C1:CC=1:POKE 53280,CE:GOSUB 990

:GOSUB 840:GOTO 100

216 IF A$<>"[F3]"THEN 218


:GOSUB 840:GOTO 100

218 IF A$<>"[F5]"THEN 220


:GOSUB 840:GOTO 100

220 IF A$O"F"THEN 100

221 GOSUB 990:PRINT P$:INPUT"COLOR[SPACE]#[SPACE]";A$

:A=INT(VAL{A$)):IF A<1 OR A>3 THEN A=l

222 POKE 674,A:GOSUB 990:PRINT P$:INPUT"COLOR[SPACE]VALUE

[SPACE]";A$:A=INT(VAL{A$))

223 IF A<0 OR A>15 THEN A=0

224 POKE 675,A:SYS FL:GOSUB 990:GOSUB 840:GOTO 100

840 REM PRINT BOTTOM 3 LINES *****

841 GOSUB 990:PRINT P$"[RVS]NUM[RVOFF]"STR$(CC)"[SPACE,

RVS]COL[RVOFF,SPACE]"C$(CE)"[SPACE,RVS]"K$"[RVOFF,

SPACE,RVS]INC[RVOFF]"STR$(MV);

842 PRINT"[SPACE,RVS]PEN[RVOFF,SPACE]"PE$"[SPACE,RVS]SPE

[RVOFF,SPACE]"FS$

843 PRINT"[RVS]COL1[RVOFF,SPACE]"C$(C1)"[SPACE,RVS]COL2

[RVOFF,SPACE]"C$(C2)"[SPACE,RVS]COL3[RVOFF,SPACE]

"C$(C3)"[SPACE,RVS]X[RVOFF]"X;

844 PRINT"[RVS]Y[RVOFF]"Y

845 RETURN

850 REM PRINT NEW X AND Y *****

851 PRINT P$"[DOWN]"TAB(27)"[RVS]X[RVOFF,SPACE10,LEFT10]

"X"[RVS]Y[RVOFF]"Y:RETURN

860 REM MOVE RASTER UP *******

865 POKE 3846,0:RETURN

867 LOC.3846 = LOCATI ON TO START PUTTING THE N OR MAL

TEXT AT (Y CO OR DINATE)

870 REM LIST COMMANDS *****

872 PRINT" [CLEAR,SPACE2]U[SPACE2] I [SPACE2J011

874 PRINT"[SPACE3,SHFT M,SPACE,SHFT -,SPACE,SHFT N]"

876 PRINT"[SPACE2]J[SHIFT *2,SHFT +,SHIFT *2]K[SPACE3]

KEYS[SPACE]TO[SPACE]MOVE[SPACE]CURSOR"

878 PRINT"[SPACE3,SHFT N,SPACE,SHFT -,SPACE,SHFT M,SPACE4]

([SPACE]OR[SPACE]USE[SPACE]JOYSTICK[SPACE])"

880 PRINT"[SPACE2]N[SPACE2]M[SPACE2],"

881 PRINT"[DOWN]P[SPACE]=[SPACE]TOGGLES[SPACE]BETWEEN

[SPACE]PEN[SPACE]UP[SPACE]AND[SPACE]PEN[SPACE]DOWN"

882 PRINT"F1,F3,F5[SPACE]=[SPACE]CHANGE[SPACE]TO[SPACE]

COLORS[SPACE]1,2,3"


8 83 PRINT":[SPACE]=[SPACE]INCREMENT[SPACE]CURRENT[SPACE]

COLOR"

8 84 PRINT"D[SPACE]=[SPACE]DECREMENT[SPACE]CURRENT[SPACE]

COLOR"

885 PRINT"-[SPACE]=[SPACE]TOGGLES[SPACE]JOYSTICK/KEY

[SPACE]MOVEMENT"

886 PRINT"S[SPACE]=[SPACE]SAVE[SPACE]SCREEN"

887 PRINT"L[SPACE]=[SPACE]LOAD[SPACE]SCREEN"

888 PRINT"F7,F8 [SPACE] = [SPACE]INC/DEC[SPACE]HI-RES[SPACE]

BACKGROUND[SPACE]COLOR"

889 PRINT"E[SPACE]=[SPACE]CHANGE[SPACE]TO[SPACE]ERASE

[SPACE]MODE[SPACE](COLOR[SPACE]0)"

8 90 PRINT"[HOME][SPACE]=[SPACE]CLEARS[SPACE]HI-RES[SPACE]SCREEN"

891 PRINT"+[SPACE]=[SPACE]TOGGLES[SPACE]CURSOR[SPACE]

ON/OFF"

8 92 PRINT"F[SPACE]=[SPACE]FILLS[SPACE]SCREEN[SPACE]WITH

[SPACE]A[SPACE]COLOR"

893 PRINT"R[SPACE]=[SPACE]REVERSES[SPACE]SCREEN"

8 94 PRINT"Q[SPACE]=[SPACE]CHANGE[SPACE]CURSOR[SPACE]INCREMENT"

895 PRINT"[POUND,SPACE]=[SPACE]TOGGLE[SPACE]FAST/SLOW

[SPACE]CURSOR[SPACE]MOVEMENT"

8 96 PRINT"/,[SHIFT]/[SPACE]=[SPACE]INC/DEC[SPACE]CURSOR

[SPACE]COLOR"

8 97 PRINT"*,*[SPACE]=[SPACE]INC/DEC[SPACE]TEXT[SPACE]

BACKGROUND"

8 98 PRINT"X[SPACE] = [SPACE]EX ITS[SPACE]PROGRAM"

8 99 PRINT"[RVS]HIT[SPACE]SPACE[SPACE]BAR[SPACE]TO[SPACE]

RETURN[RVOFF,HOME]":WAIT 197,32,0:RETURN

900 REM SAVE SUB******

902 NA$="":GOSUB 990

905 PRINT P$;:INPUT"[DOWN]NAME[SPACE]OF[SPACE]SCREEN

[SPACE4,LEFT3]";NA$

910 PRINT P$;:INPUT"[DOWN]TAPE[SPACE]OR[SPACE]DISK[SPACE]

(T/D)[SPACE9,LEFT8]";DV$

915 IF NA$=""AND DV$="D"THEN RETURN

920 IF LEN{NA$)>15 THEN RETURN

921 GOSUB 990

922 PRINT P$"[SPACE,RVS,SPACE12]PLEASE[SPACE]WAIT[SPACE15,RVOFF]"PS

925 POKE 3846,0:IF DV$="T"THEN D=l:GOTO 927

926 D = 8

927 POKE 4611,D:POKE 4618,LEN(NAS)+1:A=l:NA$=NA$+"1"


kids9corner

928

929

931

933

939

941

950

965

970

972

928

3846,226:POKE 56334,0

PRINT P$;:FOR 1=1 TO LEN(NA$):POKE 4863+1,

ASC(MID$(NA$,I,1)):NEXT

IF A=l THEN POKE 4627,4:POKE 4631,0:POKE 4639,7

:POKE 4637,127

IF A=2 THEN POKE 4627,32:POKE 4631,0:POKE 4639,62

:POKE 4637,0

IF A=3 THEN POKE 4627,216:POKE 4631,0:POKE 4639,219

:POKE 4637,127

935 SYS 4608:NA$=LEFT$(NA$,LEN(NA$)-l)

937 A=A+1:IF A=2 THEN NA$=NA$+"2":GOTO 928

IF A=3 THEN NA$=NA$+"3":GOTO

GOSUB 990:PRINT"[HOME]":POKE

:RETURN

REM LOAD SUB******

952 NA$="":GOSUB 990

955 PRINT P$;:INPUT"[DOWN]NAME[SPACE]OF[SPACE]SCREEN

[SPACE4,LEFT3]";NA$

960 PRINT PS;:INPUT"[DOWN]TAPE[SPACE]OR[SPACE]DISK[SPACE]

{T/D) [SPACE9,LEFT8]";DV$

IF NAS=""AND DV$="D"THEN RETURN

IF LEN(NA$)>15 THEN RETURN

GOSUB 990

975 PRINT P$"[D0WN2,SPACE,RVS,SPACE11]PLEASE[SPACE]WAIT

[SPACE16,RVOFF]"P$;

976 POKE 3846,0:IF LEFTS(DV$,1)="T"THEN D=1:GOTO 980

977 D=8

980 PRINT P$"[UP]";:NA$=NA$+"1":A=l:LOAD NAS,D,1

981 PRINT PS"[UP]";:A=A+1:NA$=LEFT$(NA$,LEN(NA$)-1}

:NAS=NA$+"2":LOAD NAS,D,1

982 PRINT P$"[UP]";:A=A+1:NA$=LEFTS(NAS,LEN(NA$)-1)

:NA$=NA$+"3":LOAD NA$,D,1

983 POKE 3846,226:POKE 56334,0:GOSUB 990:GOSUB 840

:GOTO 100

REM CLEAR TEXT *****

FOR 1=1904 TO 2023:POKE I,32:NEXT:RETURN

FOR 1=1 TO 11:READ CH%(I):NEXT

B=l:T=0

1020 READ A$:TE=VAL(A$):IF A$="E"THEN 1040

1025 IF AS="F"THEN 1050

T=T+TE:GOTO 1020

IF T=CH%(B)THEN B=B+1:T=0:GOTO 1020

1045 PRINT"[DOWN]ERROR[SPACE]IN[SPACE]DATA[SPACE]BLOCK"B

:END

IF T=CH%(B)THEN 1060

990

992

1000

1010

1030

1040

1050


1055 PRINT"[DOWN]ERROR[SPACE]IN[SPACE]DATA[SPACE]BLOCK"B

:END

1060 PRINT"[DOWN]DATA[SPACE]CORRECT,[SPACE]NOW[SPACE]

ENTERING..."

1065 RESTORE:FOR 1=1 TO 47:READ A$:NEXT

1070 A=864:B=953:GOSUB 1200:A=2048:B=2200:GOSUB 1200

:A=2304:B=2468:GOSUB 1200

1080 A=2560:B=2728:GOSUB 1200:A=2816:B=2932:GOSUB 1200

:A=3072:B=3174:GOSUB 1200

1090 A=3200:B=3237:GOSUB 1200:A=3328:B=3465:GOSUB 1200

:A=3584:B=3635:GOSUB 1200

1100 A=3712:B=3746:GOSUB 1200:A=3840:B=3920:GOSUB 1200

1150 PRINT"[DOWN]DATA[SPACE]ENTERED[SPACE]!!!":RETURN

1200 FOR I=A TO BrREAD T:POKE I,T:NEXT:READ A$:RETURN

2999 REM COLOR TRANSLATE DATA *****

3000 DATA BLK,WHT,RED,CYN,PUR,GRN,BLU,YEL,ORG,BRN,LRD,DGR,MGR,LGN,LBL,LGR

3009 REM JOYSTICK ARRAY DATA ******

3010 DATA,,,-1,1,,,1,1,-1,-1,,1,1,-1,-1,,,-1,15900 REM CHECKSUMS *****

5910 DATA 10078,18217,19331,19145,13292,10587,4275,12661,4922,3396,9730

6000 REM BLOCK 1 *******

6005 DATA 14,60,3,173,66,3,201,1,240,19,162,0,189,170,3,157,66,3

6010 DATA 189,178,3,157,84,3,232,224,8,208,239,160,0,132,249,169,32

6020 DATA 133,250,173,80,3,240,20,201,3,240,19,132,253,162,4,134,254

6030 DATA 201,1,240,3,76,0,9,76,0,10,76,0,11,132,251,169,216

6040 DATA 133,252,76,0,8,1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128,254,253,251,247

6050 DATA 239,223,191,127 ,E

6060 REM BLOCK 2 *******

6065 DATA 173,60,3,74,74,74,141,62,3,173,61,3,74,74,74,141,63,3

6070 DATA 173,61,3,41,7,141,64,3,173,60,3,41,7,141,65,3,

169

6080 DATA 7,56,237,65,3,141,65,3,174,63,3,24,240,16,230,

250,165

6090 DATA 249,105,64,133,249,144,3,230,250,24,202,208,240,

174,62,3,240


kids9corner

6100

6110

6120

6130

6140

6150

6155

6160

6170

6180

6190

6200

6210

6220

6230

6240

6250

6255

6260

6270

6280

6290

6300

DATA

208,

DATA

0,18

DATA

174,

DATA

202,

DATA

251,

REM

DATA

141,

DATA

169

DATA

250,

DATA

174,

DATA

208,

DATA

14,165,24 9,105,8,133,24 9,14 4,3

242,165,249

109,64,3,133,249,14 4,3,230,250

9,66

3,17,249,145,249,202,189,66,3,

63,3,24

240,14,165,251,105,40,133,251,

208,242,165

251,10 9,62,3,133,251,144,2,230

96,E

BLOCK 3 *******

173,60,3,74,74,74,141,62,3,173

63,3

173,61,3,41,7,141,64,3,173,60,

7,56,237,65,3,141,65,3,174,63,

165

,230,250,24,202,

,24,174,65,3,160,

17,249,145,249,

144,3,230,252,24,

,252,173,83,3,145,

,61,3,74,74,74,

3,41,7,141,65,3,

3,24,240,16,230,

2 49,105,64,13 3,249,144,3,230,250,24,202,208,240,

62,3,240

14,165,249,105,8,133,249,144,3

242,165,249

109,64,3,133,249,144,3,230,250

0,189,66

DATA

174,

DATA

202,

DATA

3,17,249,145,249,202,189,84,3,

63,3,24

240,14,165,253,105,40,133,253,

208,242,165

253,109,62,3,133,253,144,2,2 30

15,141,62

DATA

REM

DATA

141,

DATA

169

DATA

250,

DATA

174,

DATA

208,

DATA

,230,250,24,202,

,24,174,65,3,160,

49,249,145,249,

144,3,230,254,24,

,254,173,82,3,41,

3,177,253,41,240,13,62,3,145,253,96,E

BLOCK 4 *******

173,60,3,74,74,74,141,6 2,3,173

63,3

173,61,3,41,7,141,64,3,173,60,

7,56,237,65,3,141,65,3,174,63,

165

,61,3,74,74,74,

3,41,7,141,65,3,

3,24,240,16,230,

249,105,64,13 3,249,144,3,230,250,24,202,208,240,

62,3,240

14,165,24 9,10 5,8,133,249,144,3

242,165,249

109,64,3,133,249,144,3,230,250

0,189,84

,230,250,24,202,

,24,174,65,3,160,


6310

6320

6330

6340

6350

6355

6360

6370

6380

6390

6400

6410

6420

6425

6430

6440

6450

6460

6470

6480

6485

6490

6540

6545

DATA 3,49,24 9,145,249,202,189,66,3174,63,3,24

DATA 240,14,16 5,253,105,40,133,253202,208,242,165

DATA 253,109,62,3,133,253,144,2,2315,10,10

DATA 10,10,141,62,3,177,253,41,15,F

REM BLOCK 5 *******

,17,249,145,249,

,144,3,230,254,24,

0,254,173,81,3,41,

13,62,3,145,253,96,

DATA 173,60,3,74,74,74,141,6 2,3,173,61,3,74,74,74,141,63,3

DATA 173,61,3,41,7,141,64,3,173,60169

DATA 7,56,237,65,3,141,65,3,174,63250,165

DATA 249,105,64,133,24 9,144,3,230,174,62,3,240

DATA 14,165,24 9,105,8,133,24 9,144,208,242,165,249

,3,41,7,141,65,3,

,3,24,240,16,230,

250,24,202,208,240,

3,230,250,24,202,

DATA 109,64,3,133,249,144,3,230,250,24,174,65,3,160,0,189,84

DATA 3,49,249,145,249,202,189,84,3F

REM BLOCK 6 *******

,49,249,145,249,96,

DATA 160,0,162,32,142,67,12,232,142,70,12.232,142.73.12,232,142,76

DATA 12,173,33,208,10,10,10,10,14141,15,13

DATA 176,2,153,0,216,153,0,217,153153,0,4

DATA 153,0,5,153,0,6,153,232,6,20060,153

,176,2,173,33,208,

,0,218,153,232,218,

,208,229,152,153,0,

DATA 0,61,153,0,62,153,0,63,200,208,241,174,67,12,224,60,240

DATA 15,238,67,12,238,70,12,238,7365,12,96,E

REM BLOCK 7 *******

,12,238,76,12,76,

DATA 160,0,162,32,142,140,12,142,145,12,185,0,32,73.255,153,0,32,200

DATA 208,245,173,140,12,201,63,240,145,12,76,138,12,96,E

REM BLOCK 8 *******

DATA 160,0,173,163,2,174,162,2,224,240,71,153

9,238,140,12,238,

1,240,20,224,2,


kids'corner

6550 DATA 0,216,153,0,217,153,0,218,153,0,219,200,208,241,

96,10,10

6560 DATA 10,10,141,164,2,185,0,4,41,15,13,164,2,153,0,4,

185,0

6570 DATA 5,41,15,13,164,2,153,0,5,185,0,6,41,15,13,164,2

6580 DATA 153,0,6,185,232,6,41,15,13,164,2,153,232,6,200,

208

6590 DATA 209,96,141,164,2,185,0,4,41,240,13,164,2,153,0,

4,185

6600 DATA 0,5,41,240,13,164,2,153,0,5,185,0,6,41,240,13,

164

6610 DATA 2,153,0,6,185,232,6,41,240,13,164,2,153,232,6,

200,208,209,96,E

6620 REH BLOCK 9 *******

6625 DATA 169,0,141,167,2,173,0,220,106,176,9,162,2,142,

167,2,106

6630 DATA 76,28,14,106,176,5,162,4,142,167,2,106,176,9,

173,167,2

6640 DATA 105,6,141,167,2,96,106,176,8,173,167,2,105,3,

141,167,2,96,E

6650 REM BLOCK 10 *******6655 DATA 120,169,15,141,21,3,169,0,141,20,3,141,178,2,

141,18,208

6660 DATA 173,17,208,41,127,141,17,208,173,25,208,9,1,141,

25,208,88,96,E

6670 REM BLOCK 11 *******6675 DATA 173,178,2,208,37,169,226,141,18,208,169,59,141,

17,208,173,192

6680 DATA 2,141,33,208,169,29,141,24,208,169,24,141,22,

208,169,1,1416690 DATA 25,208,141,178,2,76,49,234,169,252,141,18,208,

169,27,141,17

6700 DATA 208,173,177,2,141,33,208,169,21,141,24,208,169,

8,141,22,2086710 DATA 169,1,141,25,208,169,0,141,178,2,76,129,234,F

6999 REM SPRITE DATA ********

7000 DATA 74,250,85,74,34,73,74,34,65,74,34,65,74,34,65,

123,1627010 DATA 0,0,0,49,198,68,41,41,68,37,41,68,37,207,84,41,

417020 DATA 84,49,41,40,0,0,0,1,196,0,2,4,128,2,4,128,3

7030 DATA 199,128,2,32,128,1,192,128,0,0,0,0,4,0,0,4,18

7040 DATA 0,7,146,64,4,158,0,7,130,64,0,14,0,0,0,0,61

7050 DATA 239,188,37,2,32,61,194,56,33,2,32,33,226,60,0,8,0


7060

7070

7080

7090

7100

7110

7120

7130

7140

7200

7210

7220

DATA

DATA

DATA

75

DATA

DATA

190,

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

REM

DATA

33,232,64

0,0,0,0,0

37,16,136

128,8,74,

,3

,0

,3

64

12,162,171,

0,0,0

0,0,0,0,0 ,0

64,0,1,240,

0,64,0,0,

0,0,0,0,0

64

,0SAVE ML DATA

169,1,162

19,32,189,255,

DATA 4,133,253

32,216,255,96

,8

3

t

7

,

t

0

r

8

47

16

,64,33,

,37,124

,136,0,

,122,64,0

138,

t

0

,

t

169

/16

0

,

0

0

,0

1,

,0

,0

162,138

,0,0,0,

16,0,7,

,0,0,0,

,0,0,0,******

160

9 ,0

,255,32

41,64

,136,

,61,239,120,0,0,0,0,0

37,16,216,61,16,168

0,0,15,123,192,8,74,64,14,

,0,0, 0,0,0,139,232,162,218

,9,162,138,8,162,139,232,

0,0,0

28,0,

0,0,0

0,0,0

,186,

,133,252,169

,64,0,0

1,16,0,1,240,0

,0,0,0,0

,0,0,0

255,169,15,162,0,160,

,252,162,127,160,7,

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kids'corner

Commodore Kids Win Awardsby Betsy Byrne

Worried about the future? Not

me! I recently attended the 34th

International Science and En

gineering (ISE) Fair, held in my

home town, Albuquerque, New

Mexico. Why would a science and

engineering exhibition put my

fears about the future of the world

to rest? Because the exhibitors at

this particular fair were kids, stu

dents who won the honor of par

ticipating there by being the best

in ISE fairs all over the USA and

several other countries. And in

even the short time I had to look

around (several hours), I was

awed and amazed at the caliber

of the projects presented and the

bright young minds that had

conceived them.

Being a Commodore enthu

siast, I was not at all surprised

(but I did feel pleased and proud),

to see that our favorite computers

played a big role in several ambi

tious and impressive projects. VIC

20s, Commodore 64s, PETs and

CBMs of many types were there,

standing quietly in the booths next

to their proud young users. Of

course there were other types of

computers to be seen at the fair,

but for obvious reasons, the ones

that 1 concentrated on were

owned and used by Commo

dore Kids.

I talked to six in all, and there

may have been more that I didn't

find. Each project, and the mas

termind behind it, is worthy of

an article all its own, but unfortu

nately I don't have enough space

to do them all justice. I will try to

capture for you the essence of

these projects, and their creators.

Believe me, while talking to some

of these young scientists, I wished

that I had paid more attention

when I was in school!

Dan Wilson, IS,Rapid City, South Dakota

Dan's project, called "Wave

length Isolation Using Birefrin-

gent Polarization", consisted of

an experiment in which he used

the transparent plastic wrappers

from a certain brand of cigarettes

(!) among other materials, to filter

light, which he then analyzed and

photographed. He designed a

program on his 4032 to do all the

calculations and display his results

and conclusions. Photographers

and astronomers are showing

quite an interest in Dan's discov

eries, and his project won an

t

ft

Dan Wilson

award from the American Patent

Law Association, in addition to

two other awards.

Dan had taken eight months of

computer programming when he

decided to use a PET 4032 for

his project. He credits Georgia

O'Connor, his computer teacher

at Stevens High School in Rapid

City, for generating the computer

enthusiasm and knowledge he

needed to create the programs

necessary for his project. Dan's

interest in photography led to his

choice of project, and after discov

ering the unique properties of the

cigarette covering, he designed

and built a prototype of a variable

color filter system that he says will

be more versatile and less expen

sive than the glass filters that are

currently being used. As you might

imagine, the particular brand of

cigarette wrapper he "discovered"

remains a well kept secret!

Rudy Timmerman, 15,Wickes, Arkansas

"Computer Simulated Statics"

was the name of Rudy's project.

He informed me that "statics" is a

branch of physics that deals with

stresses and their effects on dif

ferent materials. This project, part

of which deals with the stresses in

volved in building bridges, was a

natural for a boy whose grand

father was an engineer who built

bridges. The fact that his father is

a physics teacher also influenced

Rudy's choice.

Rudy taught himself program-


kids9corner

PET STATICS

Rudy Jimmeiman

ming on an 8032 computer in

order to use it for his project.

With only four months' pro

gramming experience, he wrote

simulation programs, complete

with graphics, that would, in my

humble opinion, daunt many a

more experienced user. To reach

the 1SE finals Rudy placed first in

his local, county and regional fairs,

and second at the state level. The

latest project that Rudy and his

computer have embarked on is

writing adventure games. He sent

me a copy of one that is really in

teresting and exciting! It was a bit

too long to publish, but 1 hope

he keeps up the good work, in

both fields.

Bill Wilcox, 16,Parkersburg, West Virginia

"The Advantage of a Radially

Stressed Membrane as a Sound-

Light Interface" is the impressive

sounding title of the project that

Rudy Timmermnn's statics simulation scmen.

Bill Wilcox

Bill Wilcox used his VIC 20 to

create. Bill is another self-taught

programmer, and he put his pro

gramming skills to good use

when he interfaced his VIC to

an amplifier and speaker system

through the user port.

This project was a bit hard for

this "lay person" to understand,

but if I have it right, Bill reflected

a laser off a "radially stressed

membrane" so that the user could

actually see the accuracy of a

computer-generated sound wave

form. He used the Super Expander

to access the VIC 20's high reso

lution graphics so that he could

portray the resulting mathematical

analysis of the "Lissajous Figures"

and sine wave forms.

I might not have the back

ground to totally understand Bill's

accomplishments, but a lot of

experts at the ISE Fair certainly

did! Bill received a fourth prize in

physics, a third from the Society

of Photographic Scientists and En

gineers, a second from the Acous

tical Society of America and an

Honorable Mention from Kodak.

According to Bill, one of the pos

sible applications of his project is


absolutely precise tuning of musi

cal instruments. He hopes he will

be able to acquire a Commodore

64 soon, and it will be interesting

to see what he can do with the

64's SID chip!

Allen Ingling,Delaware, Ohio

"An Eight-Bit Digital/AnalogConverter" was the name of Allen

Ingling's project for the ISE Fair.

What Allen did was use a Com

modore 64 to control a servo an

tenna, a piece of hardware that

looks very much like a miniature

satellite dish. Allen told me that his

Digital/Analog converter could be

used to control any analog device,

but he chose the little servo an

tenna because he had easy access

to one.

Since 1 had met my first com

puter-controlled home robot,

TOPO, the day before the ISE

Allen Ingling

Fair, I immediately asked if this in

cluded robot arms (TOPO lacks a

working arm) and Allen assured

me that it did, providing proof that

Commodore Kids are able to do

things that were science fiction

only a few years ago!

Allen taught himself BASIC

on his 64, an example of my own

personal belief that self-taught

programmers are sometimes the

most innovative. In fact, most of

the kids I talked to at the fair had

little or no formal training in pro

gramming, although they had

written some very sophisticated

programs to use in their projects.

Brent Hinkle, 15,Friona, Texas

Brenl's project was "Cloverleaf

Knots—Do They Conform to

Knot Theory?". Since I was not

aware that there actually was such

a thing as knot theory, Brent had

to be very patient with me as he

attempted to describe his project.

According to Brent, mathe

maticians, particularly those in a

branch of mathematics called topology, have devised a way to

mathematically describe the paths

taken in the formation of certain

knots. Brent became interested in

these formulas after reading an ar

ticle by topologist Lee Neuwirth in

Scientific American. His project

consisted of trying to prove or dis

prove certain theories put forth by

Neuwirth, touching on the prob

ability that cloverleaf knots are

mathematically equal to another

type of knot, described to me by

Brent as the kind of knot I use to

tie my kids' shoes.

This all became a little clearer

Brent Hinkle

to me when Brent described the

practical applications of his re

search. He explained that these

theories could be useful in com

puting certain things having to do

with electrical circuits, population

fluctuation or even in making pre

dictions about ecological systems.

In short, he said they could apply

to anything cyclic, or anything that

goes through some type of cause

and effect cycle.

Brent used his Commodore 64

to do all his calculations, and as a

display aid to illustrate a cloverleafknot "deforming" into the other

type (shoelace knot). Brent

learned programming on a PET

computer at Friona High School,

and is spending the summer pro

gramming games on his 64. He

says he misses having a local place

to acquire software for his Com-

COMMODOHE: POWER/PLAY Fall 1983 87

kids*corner

modore, and wishes he could get

in touch with a user group so that

he could at least have access to

some of the public domain games

rather than having to type them in

from scratch.

Richard Begay,Crystal, New Mexico

Richard and I were only able to

talk about his project for a few

moments, so I have very little in

formation about it, unfortunately.

The project, called "Plane Fun"

was in the computers and mathe

matics category, and consisted

mainly of a computer program to

illustrate and teach plane geome

try. The teacher who accompanied

Richard, Paula DeLairro, was very

enthusiastic about the project and

Richard Begay

Euqene Sargent

Richard's programming ability, as

the judges must have been, since

Richard won top honors in the

Arizona region! (He attends school

in Tuba City, Arizona.)

Eugene Sargent, 16,Fayetteville, Arkansas

A project called "Experiment

ing With Robot Design" brought

Eugene to the 1SE finals, and an

interesting and timely project it

certainly was. This was a project I

had quite a bit of interest in, hav

ing fallen in love with the idea of

robots and all their possible ap

plications; friends and helpers at

home, in schools, in industry or

helping us inhabit outer space!

Eugene emphasized that his

robot was only a very simple

example among all the robot

possibilities, but 1 was extremely

impressed with the fact that a

high school junior with little or no

training in electronics OR com

puter programming could accom

plish what Eugene did. He built his

robot on a very low budget ($40),

using old computer parts he sal

vaged at Fayetteville High School.

He then interfaced it with a VIC 20

computer he had received as a

Christmas gift. The interface was

connected through the user port,

and used a control circuit, buffer

and power supply—all of which

he made himself. He used the

potentiometer in the VIC paddle-

port to update the computer on

the position of the robot's steer

ing column.

When I asked Eugene what

advice he had for other kids

who might want to make a VIC-

controlled robot, he recommended

a group of books published by

Tab publishing company that deal

with designing and building robots.

Eugene is currently learning

to program hi-res graphics on his

VIC (he doesn't have a Super Ex

pander) and would like to leam

machine language in order to speed

up the "thought" processes and

learning abilities of future robots

he wants to build. C


A Printer Character Generator

for the Commodore 64by Josh Rai

Josh Rai

Ten-year-oldJosh

Rai was introduced

to computing two

years ago, in the

third grade, when

he began to use

a PET at the

John F. Kennedy School in Great Neck,

New York. He really became intrigued by

computers in December, 1981, when he

andhis sister got a VIC20 for Christmas.

He learned alot aboutprogramming from

the VIC manual, the Programmer's Ref

erence Guide andfrom Arnie Friedman,

a high school teacher who gives private

classes for kids and runs the Great Neck

adult education computerprogram. The

rest ofJosh's family knows virtually

nothing about computers and usually

cannot help him.

Josh got a Commodore 64 in February,

1983, because he wanted to learn morecomplicated things, including machine

language (which he still has not figured

out). Besides programming, he likes

writing, playing the violin, baseball

andtennis.

The Printer Character Generator is a program

that allows you to define a character 35 x 21 pixels

large on the VIC 1515 printer. (It has only been used

on the VIC 1515, but will also work on the 1525.)

To begin with, you are a blue cursor on a large

white square. Move by pressing T for up, V for

down, F for left and G for right. Press the SHIFT key

to turn on a dot and the COMMODORE key to turn

it off. To make or erase a line, hold down SHIFT

or COMMODORE while you move. You may also

clear the screen and start your character over by

pressing SHIFT and CLR/HOME. You can reverse

the character if you press R.

When satisfied with your character, press the +

sign and wait for about ten seconds. It will print your

picture on the printer and ask if you want to edit it. If

you do, type in yes and edit (or clear the screen and

make another character). But remember, only one

character can be in memory.

If you do not want to edit, you will come upon

another question: DO YOU WANT TO PUT THE

CHARACTER INTO DATA STATEMENTS? Saying

yes would erase the program (be careful about that;

the character generator would be NEWed) and

make a new program with data statements and an

extra two lines, so if the program is run, it will print

the character again. You see. the computer would

do all the work by making a SAVEable program

where all you have to do is say RUN and it prints

your character.

Lines 10 to 40 and 700 to 820 set the variables

and give the instructions.

Lines 40 to 49 make the box.

Lines 60 to 130 let you move.

Lines 140 to 182 print the character on the

printer.

Lines 183 to 230 check to see if you want to

edit it.

Lines 310 to 340 check if you want to put the

character into DATA statements.

Lines 350 to 380 make the DATA statements. C

COMMODORE; POWER'PLAY Fall 1983 89

Printer Character Generator

10 DIM LO(15),P${15):FOR T=l TO 15:READ LO{T):NEXT

20 POKE 53281,0:POKE 53280,0:POKE 646,1

23 GOSUB 700

30 PRINT"[CLEAR]"

40 X=0:Y=0:N=l

45 PRINT"[HOME]";

47 FOR S=l TO 7:PRINT"[RVS,SPACE35]"

48 PRINT"[RVS,SPACE35]"

49 PRINT"[RVS,SPACE35]":NEXT

60 POKE LO(1)+X+(40*Y),6

70 POKE LO(1)+X+(Y*40)+N,1

73 IF PEEK(653)=1 THEN POKE(LO(1)-54272)+X+(Y*40),209

:POKE LO(1)+X+(Y*40),4

77 IF PEEK(653)=2 THEN POKE(LO{1)-54272)+X+(Y*40),160

:POKE LO(1)+X+(Y*40),1

80 IF PEEK(197)=22 AND Y>0 THEN N=40:Y=Y-1:GOTO 120

90 IF PEEK(197)=31 AND Y<20 THEN N =-40:Y=Y+1:GOTO 120

93 IF PEEK(197)=21 AND X>0 THEN N=l:X=X-1:GOTO 120

95 IF PEEK{197)=17 THEN GOSUB 900

97 IF PEEK{197)=26 AND X<34 THEN N=-1:X=X+1

115 IF PEEK(197)=51 AND PEEK(653)=X THEN 45

117 IF PEEK(197)=40 THEN 140

120 POKE LO(1)+X+(Y*40)+N,1

130 GOTO 60

140 PRINT"[HOME/DOWN21]JUST[SPACE]A[SPACE]MINUTE...";

143 FOR U=l TO 15:P$=""

145 FOR T=LO(U)-54272 TO LO(U)-54266:W=1

150 FOR I=T TO T+240 STEP 40

160 IF PEEK<I)=209 THEN P=P+W

165 W=W*2:NEXT:P=P+128:P$=PS+CHR${P):P=0:NEXT:P$<U)=P$

:NEXT

167 PRINT"[HOME,DOWN21,SPACE16]"

170 OPEN 4,4:CMD 4

180 FOR T=l TO 5:PRINT CHR$(8)P$(T);:NEXT:PRINT

181 FOR T=6 TO 10:PRINT CHR$(8)P$(T);:NEXT:PRINT

182 FOR T=ll TO 15:PRINT CHR$(8)P$(T);:NEXT

183 PRINT#4:PRINT"[HOME,DOWN22fL. GREEN,RVS]WANT[SPACE]TO

[SPACE]EDIT[SPACE]YOUR[SPACE]CHARACTER?[WHITE]"

200 CLOSE 4:GET A$:IF A$=""THEN 200

210 IF A$="N"THEN 310

220 IF A$O"Y"THEN 200

225 PRINT"[HOME,DOWN22]O.K.[SPACE27]"

227 FOR T=l TO 1000:NEXT

228 PRINT"[HOME,DOWN22,SPACE31]"


230 POKE LO{1)+X+(40*Y),1:GOTO 60

310 PRINT"[CLEAR]WANT[SPACE]TO[SPACE]ERASE[SPACE]PROGRAM

[SPACE]AND[SPACE]PUT[SPACE]YOUR[SPACE]15[SPACE]

CHARACTERS[SPACE]INTO[SPACE]DATA?"


330 IF A$="N"THEN END

340 IF A$O"Y"THEN 320

350 PRINT"[CLEAR,DOWN2]";:L=1:C=1

360 PRINT RIGHTS(STRS(L),LEN(STR$(L))-1);"[SPACE]DATA

[SPACE]";

365 IF CO15 THEN FOR P = l TO 2

366 FOR 1=1 TO 7

370 PRINT RIGHT$(STR$(ASC(MID$(PS(C),1,1))),LEN(STRS(ASC(MID$(PS(C),1,1))))-l);

371 PRINT",";

373 NEXT:C=C+1:IF CO15 THEN NEXT

375 PRINT"[LEFT,SPACE]":L=L+1:IF C<16 THEN 360

376 PRINT"1000[SPACE]DIMU$(15):FORT=1TO15:FORI=1TO7:READA:U${T)=U${T)+CHR$(A):NEXT:";

377 PRINT"NEXT"CHR$(13)"1010[SPACE]OPEN4,4:CMD4

:FORT=0TO10STEP5:FORI=lTO5:";

3 78 PRINT"PRINTCHR$(8)U$(I+T);:NEXT

:PRINT"CHR$(13)"1020[SPACE]NEXT:PRINT#4:CLOSE4"

390 PRINT"[HOME]";:FOR T=631 TO 642:POKE T,13:NEXT

:POKE 198,12:NEW

500 DATA 55296,55303,55310,55317,55324,55576,55583,55590,

5559 7,55604,55856,55863

510 DATA 55870,55877,55884

700 PRINT"[CLEAR]CHARCTER[SPACE]GENERATOR[SPACE]FOR[SPACE]

THE[SPACE]PRINTER..."

710 PRINT"[DOWN2]BEFORE[SPACE]YOU[SPACE]USE[SPACE]THIS,IT

[SPACE]IS[SPACE]ASSUMED[SPACE]THAT[SPACE2]YOU[SPACE]HAVE[SPACE]A"

720 PRINT"[DOWN,RVS,MAGENTA]PRINTER,ASSEMBLED,AND[SPACE]

WITH[SPACE]PAPER.[WHITE]"

730 PRINT"[DOWN3]IF[SPACE]YOU[SPACE]DO[SPACE]NOT[SPACE]HAVE[SPACE]THIS,THEN[SPACE]THIS[SPACE]PRO-[SPACE2]

GRAM[SPACE,RVS,MAGENTA]WILL[SPACE]NOT[RVOFF,WHITE,

SPACE]WORK!"

740 PRINT"[DOWN2]IF[SPACE]YOU[SPACE]DO[SPACE]HAVE[SPACE]A

[SPACE]PRINTER,PRESS[SPACE]A[SPACE]KEY[SPACE]TO[SPACE]BEGIN."

745 PRINT"[DOWN,RVS]NOTE:THIS[SPACE]PROGRAM[SPACE]IS[SPACE]ONLY[SPACE]KNOWN[SPACE]TO[SPACE]WORK[SPACE]ON


kids"corner

[SPACE]THE[SPACE,RVOFF]VIC-1515[RVS,SPACE]PRINTER."


760 PRINT"[CLEAR]T[SPACE]=[SPACE]UP"

761 PRINT"V[SPACE]=[SPACE]DOWN"

762 PRINT"F[SPACE]=[SPACE]LEFT"

76 3 PRINT"G[SPACE]=[SPACE]RIGHT"

770 PRINT"[DOWN,RVS]+[RVOFF,SPACE]TO[SPACE]PRINT[SPACE]

AND[SPACE]KEEP[SPACE]CHARACTER[SPACE]IN[SPACE]MEMORY"

7 75 PRINT"[DOWN,RVS]SHI FT/CLEAR[SPACE]HOME[RVOFF,SPACE]TO

[SPACE]ERASE[SPACE]CHARACTER[SPACE]&[SPACE]DO[SPACE]

IT [SPACE]OVER"

7 77 PRINT"[DOWN,RVS]R[RVOFF,SPACE]TO[SPACE]REVERSE[SPACE]

CHARACTER"

778 PRINT"[DOWN]{MAKE[SPACE]A[SPACE]—G—[SPACE]TO[SPACE]

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7 80 PRINT"[DOWN,RVS]SHIFT[SPACE]KEY[RVOFF,SPACE]TO[SPACE]

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7 90 PRINT"[DOWN,RVS]COMMODORE[SPACE]KEY[RVOFF,SPACE]TO

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800 PRINT"[DOWN4J PRESS[SPACE]ANOTHER[SPACE]KEY"


820 RETURN

900 FOR T=l TO 15:FOR U = LO (T)-54272 TO LO(T)-54266

:FOR I=U TO U+240 STEP 40

905 IF PEEK(I)=160 THEN POKE I,209:GOTO 920

910 IF PEEK(I)=209 THEN POKE 1,160

920 NEXT:NEXT:NEXT:RETURN

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kids9corner

Who Needs A Word Processor?

..I Do!by Richard Kotomori, Jr.

Richard T. Kotomori, Jr.

is a 15year-old student

who attends the Albuquer

que Academy. He has been

using his Commodore 64

computer since October,

1982. His first exposure

to a computer was in Sep

tember, 1982, when he took

a programmed instruction

course in elementary

BASICprogramming.

He currently uses the

family's Commodore 64

for writing and storing his

notes, writing term papers,

using drill-and-practice

programs for studying his

English and Spanish vo

cabulary words and, of

course, for games. He pres

ently has little interest in

computerprogramming

but makes practical use

ofthe computer almost

every day.

Richard Kotomori

"Oh no, not another English

paper," used to be my response

when an assignment was given to

me. This anxiety was caused by my

previous experience with English

papers, and by this time, if I had

learned anything from English, it

was that I hated it.

Staying up all night, arguing

with my parents about making

corrections, writing a second or

third draft and making up excuses

about why 1 hadn't started the as

signment until the last night, are

only some of the reasons 1 had

hated English so much. 1 also

despised the fact that we had to

write papers legibly in ink or type

them (both of which are time con

suming). To top it all off, after such

a hectic night, my grade, at best,

would be a C. Simply because

I had terrible handwriting and did

not have enough time to type or

spell didn't mean that I should

always get a lower grade. At least,

/didn't think so.

That was before we bought a

Commodore 64 and a word pro

cessor, which, according to the

description, allows you to "keep

menus, financial data, mailing lists,

prepare and print letters and re

ports." 1 was only interested in

an easier way to complete my as

signments as quickly as possible.

With a word processor you can do

anything you can do with a type

writer plus edit easily (without

white-out correction fluid), save

copies that can be referred to at a

later date and even save legible

school notes throughout the year.

Everyone in my family has ben

efited from this program. It helps

my father with his letters (espe

cially when multiple copies are

needed) and with his software


reviews; my mother with her vol

unteer work committee reports,

and invitations; even my little

seventh-grade brother has turned

in papers written with the word

processor (But he still doesn't

realize that an outline is necessaryfor a good paper.) As for me, the

word processor has transformed

me from a D student to a B+ stu

dent in English,

The word processor was very

easy to master and is a blessing to

anyone who has poor eyesight

(me), especially with the 40-

character display on the Commo

dore 64. Rewriting is a thing of the

past, since rearranging lines, and

paragraphs and formatting the text

are so much easier. Now I can start

my assignments while my ideas

are fresh, type for a while, save

and continue later with new ideas.

It is just not as boring as it used

to be; and with the whole family

looking over my shoulder, 1 have

fewer mistakes (my best paper

had only one error). A computer

with a word processing program

is a good investment for the

whole family. C

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kids9 corner

Confessions OfA Computer

Whiz-Kid's Sisterby Diana Scimone

I knew it was all over the day he

told me he was learning PASCAL

in high school and I thought he

was studying French philosophy.

Things went steadily downhill

from there.

It's not easy having a computer

whiz-kid for a brother—especially

when he's only half your age.

Take, for instance; the Saturday

morning he tried to teach me to

play Robot Attack, one of the

games he designed. While I was

oohing and ahhing over the tiny

little robots running helter-skelter

around the screen, my brother, TJ,

patiently explained how to turn his

VIC 20 on, and then how to move

the joystick to make the cute little

men avoid being blown to pieces.

After a few minutes of instruction,

he turned the computer off and in

a voice usually reserved for train

ing dogs to fetch a stick, gave me

my first assignment: turn the com

puter back on. ..

To this day, I have never played

Robot Attack again.

Ah yes, I remember an earlier

time, back when life was simpler,

when younger brothers played

with frogs and fire trucks.

It all started a year ago when TJ

was just 15 years old—the day his

parents put their collective feet

down. My father, a reasonably

successful business man, was

amazed at the high cost of living.

Where, he wondered day after

day, did his hard-eamed money

go? Alas, it was not long before my

mother solved the mystery: TJ was

methodically converting large por

tions of my father's paycheck into

quarters, which were systemat

ically disposed of at the neigh

borhood arcade.

What could my parents do?

Rather than forking over quarters

for the rest of their lives, they de

cided it would be easier—and a lot

cheaper—to simply buy him a

computer of his own. At least they

would know where he was after

school.

As fate would have it, TJ was

not adverse to their decision, and

immediately went out and selected

a Commodore VIC 20, which

soon became a permanent fixture

in his room. Why a VIC, you may

ask? TJ, it seems, had learned

computerese right in his own high

school, Good Counsel, in Mary

land. There, unlike most schools,

students do not rush home at the

sound of the bell, but instead head

for the computer room where 29

Commodore PET 4016s, printers

and disk drives click away from

sun up to sun down.

Since he no longer frequented

arcades, it was simply a matter of

trial and error (as he modestly re

counts it) before he learned how

to program his own array of video

games: Froggy Hop, Robot At

tack, Crunch!, GhostTown and

even a few educational programs

to boot.

Now, I may not know comput

erese, but I am not entirely igno

rant. I recognized that something

had to be done soon: my brother

had already mastered BASIC and

Assembly, and was about to leam

PASCAL. We were no longer

speaking the same language. I

knew I had to do something be

fore I lost contact with him forever.

I began taking a slight interest

in my enterprising brother. He was

so far ahead of my limited techni

cal knowledge that I could only

marvel when he attempted an in-

depth explanation of his latest cre

ation. Instead of hiding the fact

that he was a computer whiz-kid, I

began telling my friends. I carried

his picture in my wallet and at the

drop of a hat would go to great

lengths to explain his marvelous

accomplishments. Friends were

quite patient in putting up with my

sibling pride.

Soon I began to get involved

in more than just a passive way.

When TJ wanted to copyright his

programs, guess who spent the

better part of an afternoon on

the phone trying to decipher the

myriad of regulations at the Patent

Office? It was a small price to pay

for glory so near to my branch of

the family tree.

TJ's fame spread. He and a

computer buddy, Mart Shannon,

formed Oakly Software Company

and began marketing their goods—

over 20 games and educational


programs between them. From

store to store they would peddle

their wares, and soon every soft

ware rack in Rockville, Maryland,

displayed the blue Oakly Software

packages that had become so near

and dear to my heart.

But in spite of TJ's business

acumen, he was still only 15—

not even old enough to drive in

Maryland. So his mother, in a twist

of the chauffeur role endured by

so many parents of teenagers,

began driving him from store to

store. Hours at a time she would

patiently wait in the hot car while

her son, the junior executive,

would chat with buyers in air-

conditioned comfort. After all,

what's a mother for, anyway?

One day an odd thought came

to TJ: Why not get a job in a com

puter store? And so he proceeded

with the time-honored tradition of

beating the pavement

While he was filling out an ap

plication in one store, a customer

asked him a question, and in a

matter of moments, TJ had sold

her some software. The owner

offered him a job on the spot

When TJ's 16th birthday rolled

around, it was no surprise to any

of the family members that he did

not want a tie. Oh, no. He had al

ready picked out a flashy modem

at his new place of employment.

Now his parents look forward

to the monthly phone bills and

the new game of "I didn't call

Chicago; did you call Chicago?"

Meanwhile, AT&T stock continues

to soar.

School is now out for the sum

mer, and in between working on

getting that all-important driver's

license, TJ is under contract to

design some business programs

for his high school. He'll also be

teaching BASIC and the basics

to a local Commodore 64

users group.

Future plans include taking

more computer courses during

senior year, looking for a college

with a strong major in comput

ers and talking with a national

publishing company, which ap

proached him about purchasing

some of his educational wares.

Meanwhile, 1 have a little project

of my own: I am making an audio

tape of the click-click-clicking of

VIC 20 keys to play when my

computer whiz-kid brother goes

away to college so I won't miss

him too much. C

Diana Sclmone is a Washington DC-based

freelance writer mho writes a regular column

for Europe, the magazine of the European

Community She served as Washington corre

spondent for Video Systems for two years, and

Jiascon(ribiiledloScience80ond81. Travel/

Holiday, and USA Today, among many others.

MIDNITESW'IMFIi G1ZCTTE

The

PAPER

A Bl-Monthly Journal of Notes.Reviews and Articles

Five Years ot Service to the PET'Communlly

PET is a registered trademark oi

i^_ Commodofe Business Machlnus, inc

Thejndependent U.S. Magazine for

Users of Commodore Brand Computers

EDITORS: Jim and Ellen Strasma

S20 US / YEAR

Sample Issue free on request, from:

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kids' corner

For Grown-Ups Only

This issue's hints to grown-ups come

from Stephen Erwin, president ofthe

National VIC20 Program Exchange in

Portland, Indiana.

Longer Variables for Easier

Reading by KidsThe concept of variables is one of the most dif

ficult for children to grasp. To understand that X can

equal a certain number of apples or bananas is very

hard for them to visualize. It is even harder to see

that X can equal any number of apples we assign to

it and that the number can change. Even when they

do understand this, it can be very hard for them to

keep track of what each of those X's or Vs represent

From the standpoint of teaching children pro

gramming or having them easily follow a program

written for them, it would be so much better if we

could use words instead of X's or Y's.

Well, the fact of the matter is that you can. Apple,

banana, ball and sum are all legal variable names.

VIC will list them and use them. There are, however,

some very specific limitations that you must observe

in order to use them.

VIC will use any reasonably sized word as a vari

able, but only the first two letters count. Two dif

ferent words with the same two starting letters will

be listed differently, but will function as the same

variable when the program is run. Therefore girls,

giblets, and gifts will all list differently, but will be

treated as the same variable.

The second limitation is that these words cannot

contain any BASIC words. In one program I wrote, I

thought I'd be smart and use MONTH and COST as

variables. Can you see the problem? MONTH con

tains ON and COST contains COS. Both are BASIC

words. It is best to use the following simple programto test your variable words.

CLYDE = 10 : PRINT CLYDE

If this program works the name is legal. With

this you will find that although ABRAKADABRA

ALAKAZAM can equal 10. ANTIDISESTAB-

LISHMENTERIANISM can't because it con

tains a TAB.

I hope you will have a little fun with this, and that

it will help you write more understandable programs

for your Commodore kids.

Kid-ProofYour Programs with Strings.Syntax Error in 540. Many are the hours I've sat

staring at a perfectly good-looking program line that

kept producing that statement. It always gives me a

great sense of satisfaction when I find my mistake

and realize that the @! *? computer didn't malfunc

tion after all.

It is a different story altogether when this happens

to a child who is just learning to use a computer.

As a general rule, you should test the contents of

input statements, but with small children it is espe

cially important to make programs user friendly and

crash-proof. There is nothing that can be more frus

trating to a little one than being left sitting there

wondering what went wrong.

Inputs with numerical variables can cause many

of these problems because they will automatically

cause a redo-from-start error if any non-numerical

character is typed in for any reason. If you stick to

string inputs then the program will crash only if you

fail to write a good program that tests the strings for

all possible problems.

To aid in testing, VIC BASIC has a whole series of

functions that can be used. Before we get to these,

however, I should remind you that you cannot set a

string variable equal to a numeric variable. One or

the other must be converted so that they are both

strings or both numbers.

To convert a number to a string use the STR$

function:

10 X=10

20 X$=STR$(X)


To convert a string to a number, provided the string

is composed of numbers, use the VAL function;

10 X$="10"

20 X=VAL(X$)

Now let's look at the testing of strings. Often you

will want to limit the number of characters in a

number or word. The LEN function lets you do this:

10 X$="4768"

20 Y=LEN(X$)

30 IF Y>3THEN PRINT"3 DIGITS ONLY"

You can test the contents of a string with the ASC

and CHR$ functions and tables.

10 A$="G"20 IFASC(A$K48ORASC(A$)>57

THEN PRINT " ENTER #'s ONLY "

The range of ASCII codes for numbers is 48 to

57. Letters range from 65 to 90.

10 A$="5"20 IFASC(A$K65ORASC(A$)>90THEN

PRINT " ENTER LETTERS ONLY "

To test inputs longer than one character the

LEFTS, RIGHTS and MID$ functions will separate

out individual characters. LEFTS (X$,A) gives you

the left-most A characters of X$. If X$= " TONY "the LEFTS (X$,2) = TO. RIGHTS works the same

way from the right side. RIGHTS (X$,2) = NY.

MID$(X$,A,Y) gives you Y characters starting at po

sition A. MID$(X$,2,1) - O. MID$(X$,3,2) = NY.

MID$(X$,L4)=T0NY

If you wish to test a number for a dollar sign

do this:

10 X$ = "$100"

20 IFASC(LEFT$(X$,1)) = 36 THEN X$ =RIGHT$(X$,LEN(X$) -1)

The ASC for $ is 36. RIGHT$(X$,LEN(X$)-1) isX$ without the dollar sign. We can then test XS to be

sure it is all numbers:

10 FORT = !TOLEN(X$)

20 IFASC(MID$(X$,T,1)K48OR

ASC(MID$(X$,T,1))>57 THEN PRINT"NUMBERS ONLY"

30 NEXT

This simple routine uses MID$ to separate and

test each character of the string.

The possibilities are almost endless, and when

they result in a program the kids can't crash, very

satisfying. C

As a general rule, you should test the

contents of input statements, but with

small children it is especially important

to make programs user friendly and crash

proof. There is nothing that can be more

frustrating to a little one than being left

sitting there wondering what went wrong.


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kids"corner

"Terrific"by Betsy Byrne

A sneakpreview of

Commodore's speech mod

ule for the Commodore 64,

scheduled for release

this fall

One afternoon as I maneuvered

to get in our front door with the

fruits of an afternoon at the gro

cery store, I was almost bowled

over by my five year-old daugh

ter, Molly, who was shouting,

"Mommy! The 64 says I'm

TERRIFIC!".

Before I could find out what in

the world she was talking about,

my husband Dan called, "Honey,

listen to this!" and from the direc

tion of our computer room (it used

to be the kitchen) I heard an un

familiar feminine voice reciting

the ABC's.

"It's here?" I asked, as I hurried

toward the source of all this excite

ment (our family Commodore 64).

"The SPEECH MODULE came

while I was out?"

Dan didn't need to answer,

since the first thing I saw when I

entered the kitchen was a large,

unknown cartridge nestled in

the 64's game port. "W,X,Y,Z."

finished the pleasant voice, as the

corresponding letters appeared

on the screen.

That scene was played two

weeks ago, the day that a pro

totype of Commodore's new

speech module arrived at our

house. The way our family feels

about the 64 has been subtly

changed since the arrival of its

"voice". Somehow the computer

is more a "real member of the

family" now that it can communi

cate with us verbally. The three

youngest members in particular

now tend to say "she" or "her",

rather than "it" or "the 64".

After all, a voice synthesizer was

the computer accessory that had

headed our "most wanted" list

ever since Timmy had dubbed the

Speak and Spell "the magic toy"

at his first computer show. Need

less to say, we were very disap

pointed when we found that the

prices on the popular models

available were way over our ac

cessory budget They cost as much

as a printer, for heaven's sake!

None the less, we might have

managed one, until we actually

heard one in action. The voice

that was demonstrated for us at a

local store sounded harsh and

mechanical, and worst of all, the

kids could barely understand it!

We were told that it was "state of

the art", and that it would be some

time before anything better came

along. Well, folks, "some time" is

NOW, or at least early fall of this

year, when the Commodore

speech module is slated to be

come available in retail stores.

I had read some new product

releases about the 64's planned

speech module, but none of them

had prepared me for my own re

action to it or my family's. I had

assumed that to program it we

would have to use phoenemes,

pieces of words representing

sounds, since that was the way the

one we had seen demonstrated

had worked. On the contrary, to

program (his one, all we have to

do is type SAY "PLEASE" and

press RETURN, and by golly, it

SAYS PLEASE! I only wish I could

program my kids to say PLEASE

that easily.

Each word in the module's

235-word built-in vocabulary has

been assigned a number, so if I

want to have the computer SAY a

sentence, the easiest way I have

found to do it from BASIC (so far)

is to put the numbers in a data

statement:

18 -for- 1 = 1 to 6

26 READ I

36 SAY I:NEXT

48 DATA 138,158,73,

137,133,82

The computer will then say: "Not

bad, what next from Commodore?"

Not bad, indeed, since 1 am

not much of a programmer, as

my family would be quick to tell

you! Nothing else we have ever

acquired for the computer has in

spired me to these heights. Seven

year-old Timmy is up at six lately,

so that he can put in some time

programming the 64's voice to talk

to his twin brother, James, before

they leave for the day.

But enough about program

ming for now; there are sure to be

lots of articles on that aspect of the

COMMODORE: POWER/PUW Fall 1963 101

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VfC M 5 a trademar

kids" corner

module in future issues of both of

Commodore's magazines. Is this

new, magical-seeming electronic

marvel REALLY going to change

the way we use our computers? To

that I would answer an unqualified

YES INDEED. It will change not

only how we use them, but also

what we use them for, where they

are used, and the people who will

be able to use them!

Small children will be able to

use computers as never before, no

longer handicapped by their tem

porary lack of reading skills. In

fact, it will now be a breeze for

them to acquire those very skills,

with the help of the talking com

puter. Witness the program that

came from Commodore along

with the speech module: a plug-in

cartridge that fits in the slot on top

of the module, and not only says

the alphabet while printing the

letters to the screen, but also

contains a game that teaches rec

ognition of both upper and lower

case letters.

Speaking of handicaps, what

about children (and adults) who

have impaired vision or are blind?

If the module were integrated into

a word processor, it would give

them the ability to do schoolwork,

(or office work) that a braille writer

couldn't begin to match, not at the

less than $100 price tag of the

speech module, anyway.

It might not be a bad way for

deaf people to communicate over

the phone, either. Now don't mis

understand me; with a 235-word

vocabulary the 64 can't really

carry on a huge conversation,

but by tying the module into the

keyboard (the first program my

husband wrote) it can SPELL

anything you want it to!

Commodore programmers are

already hard at work turning out

more advanced educational pro

grams, including some to teach

foreign languages. Extended vo

cabularies for the module will

also be available, not to mention

a man's voice (my husband still

hasn't gotten over the fact that his

64 is a female} and a child's voice

("Hey Molly! Let's play arithme

tic!" it might say).

To the delight of all, Commo

dore programmers are also work

ing on games that incorporate

scaa-rry voices like some of the

ones in the arcades, notably Gorf

and Wizard of Wor. I don't know

for sure why the people at Com

modore's Speech Technology Di

vision chose a woman's voice (I

forgot to ask in all the excitement),

but a friend who teaches Special

Education tells me that there have

been numerous studies done

which show that young children

react more strongly to, and learn

more easily from, a feminine voice.

Whatever voice it speaks

with—-man, woman, child or

storybook hero—I think the talk

ing computer has finally come of

age. I will continue the saga of

my family and our talking Com

modore 64 in future issues, and I

would like to hear from you, both

children and adults. Write and tell

me about your computing experi

ences and ideas, talking or other

wise. I can't promise to answer all

your letters (I haven't written my

mother since 1981) but I will cer

tainly read them all, and publish

the most interesting, thought pro

voking or representative ones. C


jiffies

A Keyboard Overlay for Your

Programmable Function Keysby Paul Zander

Ifyou sometimes can't

quite remember what your

programmable function

keys are supposed to do in

differentprograms, here's

the solution. A simple

overlay, labeled with the

program name and the

purpose ofeach function

key. Andyou can create it

right on your printer.

Recent articles have explained

the use of the programmable func

tion keys on the VIC 20 and the

Commodore 64. (See the VIC

Magician, "Using Those Mysteri

ous Programmable Function Keys"

in Power/Play, Spring 1983 or

Commodore, June/July 1982.)

In addition, several cartridges and

software products set up these

function keys to make the com

puter easier to use. If you have a

variety of programs that use spe

cial function keys, it may become

difficult to remember what each

key does. For instance, "f2" may

be used to print the contents of the

screen, GOTO some coordinate,

or produce a BASIC statement

such as COLOR.

You can easily make a very in

expensive (almost free) keyboard

overlay for each of your applica

tions that will sit over the function

keys on the keyboard. You can

make a different one for each ap

plication. It can be constructed

from plain paper, cardboard, or

even thin plastic. Here's what you

need to do.

Manual MethodObtain a piece of paper (or

suitable material) at least 3 inches

wide by 4 inches long. Draw the

measurements from Figure 1 on

the paper. You'll be cutting out the

rectangle in the center to fit over

the keys. Write the name of the

application at the top, the function

key (i.e., fl, f2, etc.) on the left and

what the key does on the right.

There's not much room on the

right side, so you may have to

abbreviate. Cut out the figure

along all lines. Place the overlay

over the function keys and you're

in business. Don't be discouraged

if you goof; the overlays are easy

and cheap enough to redo.


jiffies

Automated MethodIf you write a lot of programs

that use function keys, you could

end up with a lot of overlays to

build. If you have a printer such as

the 1525E, here's a little program

FIGURE 2.

SUPER EXPflHDER

c~ i „

F2-

F 3 -"

F4~

F5-

FS-

F7-

F8-

IGRflFHIC■

1

1 COLOR

1

1

IBRRWi

i

1 SOUND■

1

ICIRCLEi

1

1PCH NT

1

1

1 PRINT1I

ILI3T+RTH■

Automated Method

Overlay Program

to build a very neat, properly sized

overlay automatically. Just cut it out

after the form has printed. There's

an option to "PRINT AGAIN?"

so that you can make a few spare

overlays. This program works "as

is" on both the VIC 20 and the

Commodore 64. (Figure 2, the

sample output below, can be used

with the VIC 20 Super Expander

cartridge.) The program will ask

you to enter a 20-character title

followed by a 10-character value

for each of the eight function

keys. If a key has no value, just

press return.

Perhaps someday manufac

turers will include plastic overlay

cards with their products. Some

may already. Until that time you

can use one of these two methods

to make all you want! C

10

100

110

120

125

130

140

150

160

REM FUNCTION KEY OVERLAY PROGRAM

REM. .

REM. .

Al$ = '

A0$ = '

A2$ = '

SHFT

A9$ = '

SHFT

A3$ = '

SHFT

A4$ = '

.1 7 3

123456789012345678901234567890

[CMDR A,

[SHFT -,

[SHFT -,

-] "[SHFT -,

-] "[SHFT -,

-] "[CMDR Z,

SHIFT *28,CMDR S]"

SPACE28,SHFT -]"

SPACE6,CMDR A,SHIFT *10,CMDR

SPACE6,SHFT -,SPACElO,SHFT -,

SPACE6,CMDR Z,SHIFT *10,CMDR

SHIFT *28,CMDR X]"

S,SPACE10,

SPACE10,

X,SPACE10,

104 COMMODORE. POWER/PLAY Fall 1983

170 A5$ = "[SPACE20]"

180 A6S = "[SPACE10]": AA$ = " [SPACE9]"

190 A7$="[SHFT -,SPACE3]"

200 A8$="[SPACE5,SHFT -]"

210 REM "220 DIM TA$(8),TB$(8)

230 FOR 1=1 TO 8:READ TA$(I):NEXT

240 DATA Fl-,F2-,F3-,F4-,F5-,F6-,F7-,F8-

300 PRINT"[CLEAR]";

310 PRINT"FUNCTION[SPACE]KEY[SPACE]OVERLAY":PRINT

3 20 PRINT"[SPACE3]BY[SPACE]PAUL[SPACE]ZANDER":PRINT

3 30 PRINT"ENTER[SPACE]20-CHAR[SPACE]TITLE:":PRINT

340 INPUT T$:PRINT

350 T$=MID$(T$,l,20)

3 60 Tl$=T$+MID$(A5$,l,20-LEN(T$))

370 PRINT:PRINT"ENTER[SPACE]10-CHAR[SPACE]KEY"

380 FOR 1=1 TO 8

390 PRINT"FOR[SPACE]"TA$(I)"[SPACE]";:INPUT X$

400 X$=""+MID$(XS,l,10)

410 TB$(I)=X$+MID$(A6$,l,10-LEN{X$))

420 X$ = ""

430 NEXT I

440 PRINT

450 PRINT"READY[SPACE]PRINTER[SPACE]-[SPACE]HIT"

510 PRINT"ANY[SPACE]KEY[SPACE]TO[SPACE]CONTINUE"


530 OPEN 4,4

540 PRINT#4,A1$:PRINT#4,AO$

550 PRINT#4,A7$+T1$+A8$

570 PRINT#4,A0$

580 PRINT#4,A2$

600 FOR 1=1 TO 8610 PRINT#4,A7$+TA$(I)+"[SHFT -,SPACE]"+AA$+"[SHFT -]

"+TB$(I)+"[SHFT -]"

620 IF I<>8 THEN PRINT#4,A9$

630 IF 1=2 OR 1=6 THEN PRINT#4,A9$

640 NEXT

650 PRINT#4,A3$:PRINT#4,A0$

660 PRINT#4,A4$:PRINT#4

670 CLOSE 4

700 PRINT"PRINT[SPACE]AGAIN?[SPACE] (Y/N)"

710 GET Q$:IF Q$=""THEN 710

720 IF Q$="Y"THEN 500

730 IF Q$O"N"THEN 700

800 END


jiffies

Solitaireby Robert VV. Baker

This popular cardgame is designed to

run on the Commodore 64 or any PET or

CBMcomputer.

The Rules of SolitaireThis program plays a solitaire game that's a vari

ation of Klondike. One regular deck of 52 cards is

used and 28 cards are dealt into seven rows (piles).

The first row at the left has one card, the second two,

and so on up to seven cards in the last row. The

last card of each row is face up, all the rest are face

down. On each row you may build in descending

sequence; red on black or black on red. For exam

ple, you can play the ten of hearts on the jack of

clubs or spades.

You can move the face-up cards in a row as a unitstarting at any card. The top card being moved must

fit in sequence and color with the card it is moved

onto in the other row.

When you uncover a face-down card on a row,it will automatically be turned up. You are always

entitled to have seven rows, and if one is entirely

open you may put a king in the empty space.

Whenever you free an ace, move it to the ace

foundations. On the aces you may build up in suitand sequence. To win the game you have to build

each suit up to the king. A card must be the bottom

card of a row to be played from the rows onto the

ace foundations. Once played on the ace founda

tions, a card cannot be moved to help elsewhere.

The remaining 24 cards in the deck are used asthe stock. Every third card may be turned up and thedeck may be gone through any number of times.

The top card is available for play to any row or theace foundations. When the top card is played, the

next card will then be available.

You win if you can build all four ace foundations

up to the kings. You lose when you cannot make

any further plays from the deck or between rows.

Running the ProgramThe program was written to run on any PET,

CBM or Commodore 64 system. It does not use

color graphics on the 64, since it was written to be

compatible with previous systems. It cannot work on

the VIC 20 with its limited 22-character display line.

Normal and reverse fields are used to distinguish

card colors and make it slightly easier to play with

out actual colors.

The game is controlled by keyboard commands

in response to the main play prompt as follows:

Press D to play the top cardfrom the deck to the

aces or any row. Another prompt will ask for the A

or a row number from 1 to 7. Press C to see the next

available card in the deck. Press Q to quit the game

and turn over all face-down cards.

Enter a row number from 1 to 7 to move cards

from one row to another or to the ace foundations.If the row has more than one face-up card, you'll

be asked to enter the card value to indicate the top

card to be moved. Enter A for ace, J for jack, Q for

queen, K for king, or the face number 2 to 10 for

the desired card. Once the program knows what

you want to move, it will ask for the desired place

to move the cards: A for aces or a row numberfrom 1 to 7.

Any invalid response or illegal play will be

indicated with an error message and the main play

prompt will return. You'll have to restart the entire

play selection at that time. If the play command is

accepted, you'll have to wait a few seconds while

the screen is updated. Be careful not to hit the cur

sor controls when entering play commands since the

entire screen is not redisplayed. If this should hap

pen you'll just have to restart the game.

How the Program WorksLooking inside the game program, the F matrix

keeps track of each card currently on the playing

field. Each card is identified by a decimal value from

1 to 52: 1-13 are hearts, 14-26 are diamonds, 27-39


are spades, and 40-52 are clubs. Any card that is

face down has 100 added to its card value. Thus,

the program can quickly detect if a card is up or

down, and can find its suit by dividing the card

value by 13.

The S matrix is used to keep track of the ace

foundations for each suit. The D matrix is the actual

deck of 52 cards. The S$ matrix contains the graphic

suit characters for each of the four suits. There

are comments scattered throughout the program

so you can get a feel for what is going on where.

Have fun! C

Solitaire

1000

1010

1020

1030

1040

1050

1060

1070

1090

1100

1110

1120

1130

1140

1150

1160

1170

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1200

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1290

1300

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1320

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1340

1360

REM

REM

REM

REM

REM

REM

REM

*****************************

SOLITARE

BY: ROBERT BAKER, ATCO, NJ

*****************************

PRINT"[CLEAR,DOWN10]SHUFFLING CARDS

PRINT: PRINT: PRINT: PRINT" I'LL

FOR X=l TO VAL(RIGHT$(TI$,2))

R=RND(1): NEXT X

DIM

s$d

F(7,18) ,S(4),D<52),S$(4)

)=«[SHIFT S]":S$(2)="[SHIFT Z] "

[SHIFT X]"

REM

REM

REM

REM

QM$ =

FOR

FOR

FOR

REM

FOR

SUIT#1 = HEARTS

SUIT#2 = DIAMONDS

SUIT#3 = SPADES

SUIT#4 = CLUBS

" ?"+CHR5(157)+CHR$(157)+CHR$(

X=0 TO 7: FOR Y=0 TO 18: F(X,Y)

X=0 TO 4: S(X)=0: NEXT X

X=0 TO 52: D{X)=0: NEXT X

*** SHUFFLE CARDS IN DECK

X=l TO 52

R=INT{RND{1)*52+1): IF D(R)>0 THEN

D(R)

REM

R=52

F(X,

D(R)

F(X,

REM

C = 3:

REM

=X: NEXT X

*** DEAL CARDS INTO PILES

: FOR X=l TO 7: FOR Y=l TO X

Y)=D{R)+100

=0: R=R-1: NEXT Y

X)=F(X,X)-100: NEXT X

*** DISPLAY EVERYTHING

GOSUB 2730

*** COMMAND INPUT

PRINT"[H0ME,D0WN21]■;

L=3: GOSUB 3080

FOR A GAME OF SOLITARE!"

BE READY IN A FEW SECONDS"

:S$(3)="[SHIFT A]":S$(4)="

157)

=0: NEXT Y,X

1240


jiffies

1370

1380

1390

1400

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1420

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1440

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1760

1770

1780

1790

1800

1810

1820

IF S(l)+S(2)+S(3)+S{4)<>130 THEN 1390

PRINT"CONGRATULATIONS, YOU WIN !":

PRINT"D=DECK,ROW#1-7,C=CARD,Q=QUIT; PLAY="P=VAL(P$)

IF (P>7) OR (P<0) THEN 2360

IF P>0 THEN 1840

IF P$="C" THEN GOSUB 2900: GOTO 1340: REM

IF P$O"Q" GOTO 1550

REM *** QUITTER!

FOR X=l TO 7: FOR Y = l TO 18

IF F(X,Y)>100 THEN F(X,Y)=F(X,Y)-100

NEXT Y,X

GOSUB 2830

L=3: GOSUB 3080

PRINT"SORRY, BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME !!!"

PRINT"WANT TO PLAY AGAIN (Y/N) ? "

GET P$: IF P$="Y" THEN RUN

IF P$O"N" THEN 1520

END

IF P$O"D" GOTO 2360

REM *** FROM DECK TO ...

IF D(l)=0 THEN 2370

V=D(C): S1 = INT{ (D(C)-1)/13)+1

IF V>13 THEN V=V-13: GOTO 1590

L=l: GOSUB 3060

PRINT"FROM DECK TO (A=ACES, ROW#l-7)";QM$;

IF R$O"A" THEN 1700

REM *** DECK TO ACES

IF S1O{D(C)+12)/13 THEN 1670

IF S(S1)>0 THEN 2370

GOTO 1680

IF D(C)OS(S1)+1 THEN 2370

S(S1)=D(C): X=S1: GOSUB 2420: GOSUB 3130:

REM *** DECK TO ROW

R=VAL{R$)

Y=l: IF (R<1) OR <R>7) THEN 2360

IF Y>18 THEN 2370

IF F(R,Y)<>0 THEN Y=Y+l: GOTO 1720

IF Y>1 THEN 1770

IF V=13 THEN 1820

GOTO 2370

V1=F(R,Y-1)

IF Vl>13 THEN V1=V1-13: GOTO 1780

IF VOVl-1 THEN 2370

S2=INT((F(R,Y-l)-l)/26): S1=INT{(Sl-1)/2)

IF S1=S2 THEN 2370

F(R,Y)=D(C): GOSUB 3180: GOSUB 3130: GOSUB

GOTO 1510

;QM$;: INPUT P$:

NEXT CARD

: INPUT R§

GOTO 1340

2830: GOTO 1340


1830

1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

2030

2040

2050

2060

2070

2080

2090

2100

2110

2120

2130

2140

2150

2160

2170

2180

2190

2200

2210

2220

2230

2240

2250

2260

THEN 2360

THEN Y=Y+1: GOTO 1990

REM *** FROM ROW TO ...

Y=0: IF F(P,1)=O THEN 2370

REM *** SINGLE CARD IN ROW?

Y=Y+1: IF Y>18 THEN 2370

Y2=F(P,Y): IF Y2>100 THEN 1860

IF F(P,Y+l)<>0 THEN 1920

IF Y2>13 THEN Y2=Y2-13: GOTO 1890

GOTO 2030

REM *** FROM WHAT CARD IN ROW?

L=l: GOSUB 3060

PRINT"FROM ROW";P;"CARD (A,2-10,J,Q,K)";QM$;:

Yl=VAL(Y$)

IF Y$="A" THEN Yl=l

IF Y$="J" THEN Yl=ll

IF Y$="Q" THEN Yl=12

IF Y$="K" THEN Yl=13

IF (Yl=0) OR (Yl>13)

IF Y>18 THEN 2370

Y2=F{P,Y): IF Y2>100

IF Y2>13 THEN Y2=Y2-13: GOTO 2010

IF Y1OY2 THEN Y=Y+1: GOTO 1990

R=F(P,Y): L=l: GOSUB 3060

PRINT"FROM ";: GOSUB 2520

PRINT" ROW";P;"TO {A=ACES,ROW#l-7)";QM$;:

REM *** FROM ROW/CARD TO

S1=INT( (F(P,Y)-1)/13) +1

IF A$O"A" THEN 2180

REM *** FROM ROW/CARD TO ACES

IF F(P,Y+l)>0 THEN 2370

IF S1O(F(P,Y)+12)/13 THEN 2140

IF S(Sl)>0 THEN 2370

GOTO 2150

IF F(P,Y)<>S(S1)+1 THEN

S(S1)=F(P,Y): F{P,Y)=0:

<P,Y-l)-100

GOSUB 3180: GOSUB 2830: X=S1:

REM *** FROM ROW/CARD TO ROW

Q=VAL(A$)

Z=l: IF (Q<1) OR (Q>7) THEN 2360

IF Z>18 THEN 2370

IF F(Q,Z)<>0 THEN Z=Z+l: GOTO 2200

IF Z>1 THEN 2250

IF Y2=13 THEN 2300

GOTO 2370

V1=F(Q,Z-1)

IF Vl>13 THEN V1=V1-13: GOTO 2260

INPUT Y$:

INPUT A$

2370

IF F(P,Y-l)>100 THEN F(P,Y-1)=F

GOSUB 2420: GOTO 1340


jiffies

2270 IF Y2OV1-1 THEN 2370

2280 S2=INT{(F(Q,Z-l)-l)/26): S1=INT((Sl-1)/2)

2290 IF S1=S2 THEN 2370

2300 IF F(P,Y-l)>100 THEN F(P,Y-l)=F{P,Y-l)-100

2310 F(Q,Z)=F(P,Y): F(P,Y)=0

2320 Y=Y+1: Z=Z+1

2330 IF F(P,Y)<>0 THEN 2310

2340 GOSUB 3180: GOSUB 2830: GOTO 1340

2350 REM *** ERRORS!

2360 PRINT"[RVS]INVALID RESPONSE!": GOTO 2380

2370 PRINT"[RVS] ILLEGAL PLAY 1"

2380 T=TI

2390 IF(TI-T)<50 GOTO 2390

2400 GOTO 1340

2410 REM *** DISPLAY ACES

2420 PRINT"[HOME,DOWN4]";

2430 FOR Xl=l TO X: PRINT"[DOWN2]";: NEXT XI

2440 IF (S(X)=0) AND (X>2) THEN PRINT"—";S$(X): RETURN

2450 IF S(X)=0 THEN PRINT"[RVS,SPACE2]";S$(X);"[RVOFF]": RETURN

2460 R=S{X): GOSUB 2520: PRINT: RETURN

2470 REM *** DISPLAY CARDS IN PILES

2480 R=F(X,Y)

2490 IF R=0 THEN PRINT" ";: RETURN

2500 IF R>100 THEN PRINT"XXX";: RETURN

2510 REM *** PRINT CARD

2520 R1=R

2530 IF Rl>13 THEN R1=R1-13: GOTO 2530

2540 IF R<27 THEN PRINT"[RVS]";

2550 ON Rl GOTO 2570,2580,2590,2600,2610,2620

2560 ON Rl-6 GOTO 2630,2640,2650,2660,2670,2680,2690

2570 PRINT" A";: GOTO 2700

2580 PRINT" 2";: GOTO 2700

2590 PRINT" 3";: GOTO 2700

2600 PRINT" 4";: GOTO 2700

2610 PRINT" 5";: GOTO 2700

2620 PRINT" 6";: GOTO 2700

2630 PRINT" 7";: GOTO 2700

2640 PRINT" 8";: GOTO 2700

2650 PRINT" 9";: GOTO 2700

2660 PRINT"10";: GOTO 2700

2670 PRINT" J";: GOTO 2700

2680 PRINT" Q";: GOTO 2700

2690 PRINT" K";

2700 R9=INT((R-l)/13)+1

2710 PRINT S$(R9);"[RVOFF]";: RETURN

2720 REM *** DISPLAY ACES & ROWS


2730

2740

2750

2760

2770

2780

2790

2800

2810

2820

2830

2840

2850

2860

2870

2880

2890

2900

2910

2920

2930

2940

2950

2960

2980

2990

3000

3010

3020

3030

3040

3050

3060

3070

3080

3090

3100

3110

3120

3130

3140

3150

3160

3170

3180

_4- -5- -6- -7-"

;CHRS(192);CHR$(192);CHR$

NEXT XX

PRINT"[CLEAR]ROWS -1- -2- -3-

PRINT CHR$(17);CHR$(17);CHR$(192

(192);CHR$(238)

PRINT"ACES";

FOR XX=1 TO 8: PRINT CHR$(221);CHR$(17);CHR$(157) ; :

PRINT CHR$(221)

PRINT CHR$(192);CHRS{192);CHR${192);CHR$(192);CHR$(253)

FOR X=l TO 4: GOSUB 2420: NEXT X

GOSUB 2830

GOTO 2960

REM *** UPDATE ROW DISPLAY

PRINT"[HOME,DOWN2]";

FOR Y=l TO 18

Y9=Y-11: IF Y<12 THEN Y9=l

PRINT TAB(4+( (Y9-l)*5)) ;

FOR X=Y9 TO 7: PRINT SPC(2);: GOSUB 2480

NEXT X: PRINT: NEXT Y: RETURN

REM *** NEXT 3RD CARD IN DECK

IF D(l)=0 THEN 2960

C=C + 3

IF C>24 THEN C=3

IF D(C)+D(C-l)+D(C-2)=0 THEN C=3

IF D(C)=0 THEN C=C-l: GOTO 2940

REM *** UPDATE DECK DISPLAY

PRINT"[HOME,DOWN16]DECK[DOWN]"

PRINT"

PRINT"[UP]";

IF D(l)=0 THEN PRINT" ";: GOTO 3020 :REM 3 SPACES IN PRINT

R=D(C): GOSUB 2520

X=0: FOR Y=l TO 24: IF D(Y)<>0 THEN X=X+l: NEXT Y

PRINT TAB(10) ;" (";X;"CARDS LEFT )"

RETURN

REM *** BACK UP LINES THEN CLEAR

FOR Ll=l TO L: PRINT"[UP]";: NEXT

REM *** BLANK LINES!

FOR Ll=l TO L

REM 27 SPACES

LI

PRINT"

NEXT LI

FOR Ll=l TO L:

REM *** REMOVE

FOR X=C TO 24:

IF D(l)=0 THEN

C-C-ll IF C<1

REM 39 SPACES

PRINT"[UP]";: NEXT LI: RETURN

CARD FROM DECK & DISP

D(X)=D(X+1): NEXT X

3170

THEN C=3

IF D(C)=0 THEN C=C-l: GOTO 3160

GOSUB 2960: RETURN

PRINT"[RVS]PLEASE WAIT WHILE I FIX THE CARDS !": RETURN


jiffies

Two Cartoons for the VIC 20byJohnStillwel!

Usingprogrammable

characters, gou can create

cartoons that move on

your unexpanded VIC 20.

For the last year and a half 1

have worked as a cameraman for

a local television show in Madison,

Wisconsin. Every month the show

features a different fantasy role-

playing game. One month it may

be "Dungeons and Dragons" and

the next "Top Secret." One thing

that we lacked was something

regular along the line of graphics,

The average show consisted ofa group of people acting out an

adventure with few or no props.

Knowing that I was a computer

enthusiast, the producer asked me

to come up with a series of car

toons to liven up the show. In the

past, we had flashed humorous

messages on the bottom of the

screen. But he thought computer

animation superimposed on the

gamers would be a much better

eyecatcher. Below are programs

for creating two of the cartoons

that I wrote for the show.

When I started on this project,

I intended to make one cartoon

for every subject the show might

touch. One of the subjects was sci

ence fiction. I didn't have to think

very long before I made the obvi

ous choice. For every computer

there is a program that displays a

picture of the star ship Enterprise.

It's become a status symbol. My

version of this classic idea has the

Enterprise flying over a planet If

you want the ship to fly by auto

matically, then change line 470

into a delay loop.

The second cartoon premiered

on a "Boot Hill" adventure. The

gunslingers demanded to see the

sheriff. Who was I to refuse them?

The animation that appeared over

the air was not quite what they

expected.

Both programs work on the un

expanded VIC 20. Line 10 sets the

pointers so that the program won't

write over the character set. Lines

20 to 70 set up the new character

set. The final pictures are made up

of several characters. The last part

of the program puts these charac

ters together like the pieces of a

puzzle. Then individual pieces are

replaced giving the illusion of mo

tion. In the Enterprise program,

this is accomplished by lines 450

to the end. While in the Sheriff

program, this starts at line 370.

With both programs, when a pic

ture appears, push any key to start

the action.

If you do not want to type these

programs in, send me $3 and I will

be very happy to send you a tape

with them on. My address is 5018

Marathon Drive, Madison, Wis

consin 53705. C

Sheriff

1

2

3

0

0

0

40

5 0

60

7

8

9

1

0

0

0

POKE

:CLR

36879 ,27:X=27:POKE

CS=2 56*PEEK{52)+PEEK(51]

FOR I

READ

FOR I

POKE

GOTO

FOR I

DATA

00 DATA

=CS TO CS+511:POKE

X: IF

=X TO

36869

370

= 1 TO

7168,

7176

X<0 THEN 60

52,X:POKE 56,X:POKE 51,PEEK(55)

I,PEEK(I+32768-CS) :NEXT

X+7:READ J:POKE I,J:NEXT:GOTO 40

,255

50:NEXT:RETURN

0,0,0,0,0,0,1,

,0,0,15,16,16,

1

240,16,255


110

120

130

140

150

160

170

180

190

200

210

220

230

240

250

260

270

280

290

300

310

320

330

340

350

360

370

380

390

400

410

420

430

440

450

460

470

480

490

500

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

DATA

PRINT

LEFT3

7184,

7192,

7200,

7208,

7216,

7224,

7232,

7240,

7248,

7256,

7264,

7272,

7280,

7288,

7296,

7304,

7312,

7320,

7328,

7336,

7344,

7352,

7360,

7368,

7376,

7424,

0,0,240,8,8,124

27,0,56,2,12,0,

120,120,120,80,

,130,255

15,240

16,32,192,124

3,12,48,67,68,72,72,40

8,5,2,2,130,130

130,1,81,241,81

62,80,86,3,7,3,

130,130,130,130

17,17,17,14,22,

3,3,3,0,0,0,0,0

64,128,135,133,

23,15,8,8,4,132

0,0,0,0,0,0,7,7

252,252,253,253

68,248,248,240,

0,0,0,0,7,3,3,3

15,48,192,7,24,

48,24,14,15,27,

4,4,12,31,63,0,

1,27,62,31,11,0

8,12,14,15,15,0

0,0,2,7,15,28,6

0,0,16,15,15,12

0,0,8,15,15,30,

0,2,124,31,15,4

0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0

,130,130

,17,17,17

3,3

,135,255,151,32

254,71,39

133,132,132,132

,130,66

,255,255,255,238

224,240,254,126

224,0,0

24,0,0

0,0

,0,0

,0,0

,3

,8,8

50,32

,0,0

,-1"[CLEAR,RIGHT9,DOWN15]@AB[DOWN,LEFT2]CD[DOWN,]EFG[DOWN,LEFT3]HIJ[DOWN,LEFT31KLM[DOWN,LEFT31

NOP[UP3]"

GET A$:IF

PRINT

FOR I

FOR X

PRINT

PRINT

PRINT

A$=""THEN 380

"[RIGHT9]Q[UP,LEFT2]

= 1 TO

= 1 TO

"[UP,

"[UP,

"[UP,

PRINT"[UP,

PRINT"[UP,

PRINT "[UP,

PRINT"[UP,

NEXT

PRINT

X

2000:NEXT

ZR"

3:PRINT"[UP,RIGHT8]S":GOSUB 80

RIGHT8]T":GOSUB

RIGHT8]U":GOSUB

RIGHT8]V":GOSUB

RIGHT8]W":GOSUB

RIGHT8]X":GOSUB

RIGHT8]Y":GOSUB

RIGHT8]Z":GOSUB

11 [RIGHT9]H[UP,LEFT2,

80

80

80

80

80

80

80:GOSUB 80:GOSUB 80

SPACE]E":GOTO 380


jiffies

Enterprise

140 POKE 36879,27:X=PEEK(56)-2:POKE 52,X:POKE 56,X

:POKE 51,PEEK(55):CLR

150 CS=256*PEEK(52)+PEEK(51>

160 FOR I=CS TO CS+511:POKE I,PEEK(I+32768-CS):NEXT

170 READ X:IF X<0 THEN 310

180 FOR I=X TO X+7:READ J:POKE I,J:NEXT:GOTO 170

310 POKE 36869,255

315 GOTO 700

333 FOR 1=1 TO 50:NEXT:RETURN

340 DATA 7168,0,0,0,0,0,3,1,0

350 DATA 7176,0,0,0,0,0,255,255,0

360 DATA 7184,0,0,48,124,130,255,255,130

370 DATA 7192,0,0,0,0,0,255,255,192

380 DATA 7200,0,31,40,40,31,128,0,128

390 DATA 7208,0,255,0,0,255,96,96,96

400 DATA 7216,0,255,0,1,255,0,0,0

410 DATA 7224,240,255,6,196,252,0,0,0

420 DATA 7232,124,16,0,0,0,0,0,0

430 DATA 7240,32,24,7,12,31,31,12,7

440 DATA 7248,64,48,255,0,128,128,3,252

450 DATA 7256,96,96,224,127,1,6,248,0

460 DATA 7264,0,0,0,0,128,0,0,0

470 DATA 7272,0,1,15,127,255,255,255,255

480 DATA 7280,0,0,0,0,3,15,31,127

490 DATA 7288,31,241,241,241,224,224,192,128

500 DATA 7296,255,254,254,254,254,252,252,248

510 DATA 7304,0,240,14,1,0,0,0,0

520 DATA 7312,0,0,0,192,56,62,63,31

530 DATA 7320,0,3,4,8,16,32,64,128

540 DATA 7328,255,63,63,127,255,255,255,255

550 DATA 7336,254,252,252,254,254,255,131,207

560 DATA 7344,0,0,0,0,0,224,248,240

570 DATA 7352,120,56,48,16,0,0,0,0

580 DATA 7360,0,0,0,0,1,1,7,0

590 DATA 7368,143,95,127,63,255,255,255,255

600 DATA 7376,224,248,252,254,255,255,255,255

605 DATA 7384,1,2,4,8,8,16,16,32

NOTE: In line 710 the [\] should be entered as

bracket, slash, bracket


610 DATA 7392,3,7,15,15,15,15,31,31

615 DATA 7400,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255

620 DATA 7408,223,223,254,254,254,252,252,252

625 DATA 7416,224,128,0,0,0,0,0,0

630 DATA 7424,127,127,127,127,15,15,7,3

635 DATA 7432,240,248,252,254,254,255,255,255

640 DATA 7448,0,0,0,0,0,128,192,224

650 DATA-1

700 PRINT"[CLEAR,BLUE]"

710 PRINT"[HOME,DOWN20,RIGHT6]NMOPQR[DOWN,LEFT7]STUVWXYZ#

[DOWN,LEFT10][\]"[RVS,SPACE3,RVOFF,SPACE]]![UP4]"


720 GOSUB 930:PRINT"[BLACK,RIGHT19]";

722 PRINT"@";:GOSUB 1000:PRINT"@A[LEFT]";:GOSUB 1000

:PRINT"@AB[DOWN,LEFT)H[UP,LEFT2]" ;:GOSUB 1000

724 PRINT"@ABC[D0WN,LEFT2]HI[UP,LEFT3]";:GOSUB 1000

:PRINT"@ABCD[DOWN,LEFT3]HIJ[UP,LEFT4]";:GOSUB 1000

726 PRINT"@ABCDE[DOWN, LEFT4] HI JK [UP , LEFTS] "; :GOSUB 1000

:PRINT"@ABCDEF[DOWN,LEFT5]HIJKL[UP,LEFT5]";:GOSUB 1000

732 FOR K=13 TO 1 STEP-1:GOSUB 930:FOR J=l TO K

:PRINT"[RIGHT]";:NEXT J:GOSUB 900:NEXT K

735 GOSUB 930:PRINT"ABCDEFG[DOWN,LEFT6]HIJKL[RVS,SPACE2,

UP,LEFT,SPACE]":GOSUB 1001:GOSUB 930

:PRINT"BCDEFG[DOWN,LEFT6]HIJKL[RVS,SPACE2,UP,LEFT,

SPACE]"

736 GOSUB 1001:GOSUB 930:PRINT"CDEFG[DOWN,LEFT5]IJKL[RVS,

SPACE2,UP,LEFT,SPACE]":GOSUB 1001:GOSUB 930

:PRINT"DEFG[DOWN,LEFT4]JKL[RVS,SPACE2,UP,LEFT,SPACE]"

737 GOSUB 1001:GOSUB 930:PRINT"EFG[DOWN,LEFT3]KL[RVS,

SPACE2,UP,LEFT,SPACE]":GOSUB 1001:GOSUB 930

:PRINT"FG[DOWN,LEFT2]L[RVS,SPACE2,UP,LEFT,SPACE]"

:GOSUB 1001

738 GOSUB 930:PRINT"G[DOWN,LEFT,RVS,SPACE2,UP,LEFT,SPACE]"

:GOSUB 1001:GOSUB 930:PRINT"[RVS,SPACE]"

750 GOTO 714

900 PRINT"[LEFT]@ABCDEFG[DOWN,LEFT6]HIJKL[RVS,SPACE,UP,

SPACE]":GOSUB 1001:RETURN

930 PRINT"[HOME,DOWN15]";:RETURN

1000 PRINT"[LEFT2]";

1001 FOR 1=1 TO 100:NEXT:RETURN

COMMODORE; POWER/PLAY Fall 1983 115

Write For Free Vic Catalog NEW

VIC Software

Write For Free 64 Catalog

TM _VISA'

ftA

CRICKET

PARATROOPER

MOW

ALIEN

INVASION

SNAKE OUT

CRICKET ■ From the company that brought you Asteroidz. Munchman and a host of other

blockbusters We now presenl CRICKET. This is a challenging game with a cast ol characters you

will love dnd hate. All you have to do is gel Cherp Irom one side of the road to the river and then

across the river. Noi so fast though. First you have to figure out how to dodge the traffic and get lo

the center. Then how are you going to get across the rival? Look here comes a log — even a turtle,Milch >i ride across the rivet and jump from one ml he other. Keep a sharp eye out lor Ade the Gator.

He loves to have crickets (or lunch. How many limes can you gel across I he road and river. You will

have to work as fasl as you can. Time limil and bonus. You will find this game addictive and

challenging and it will entertain you with hours oi Inn and enjoyment. $14.95

BUG BLAST - II you think Centipede was lun — look oul for BUG BLAST. A new and fast action

arcade game with realistic smooth action, quality hi res graphics and trouble. Its very calm as the

first wave attacks. Only a few hugs to kill. Just shoot thru I he caclus and wipe them out. After a lew

attacks you feel you have everything under control. Now t he altacks really statt. Those protection

areas have lo go Blast away. Will they ever slop? OK — the BUGS gol me ihis lime. Now its my

turn, Just one more lime — BUG BLAST — Now its your turn lo get even. $14.95

BOMB'S AWAY - Can you stop him? The crazy bomber drops the bombs from the lop of the

screen. You get 3 buckets to catch them. Belore you know il bombs are falling so last you wonder

when he will stop. Just when you think you have him under control your bucket gets smaller. Is your

hand quicker than your eye-1 Special S9.95

PARATROOPER - You are the only one lell to slop ihem. The sky is lull ol enemy choppers.

Paratroopers keep dropping into your area withnon slop barrage of enemy troops. They are oul to

deslroy you. This new game is an unbeatable blend ol arcade aclion and quick thinking strategy.

You must make every shot count — don't be to fast on the trigger. Every time you hit a chopper or

paralrooper you get extra points. Wait until you see the climax of this game — you won't believe it!

This is a multiple skill level game with razor-sharp graphics and sound. $19.95

MOW - Get ready for the fast and iurious action ol the craziest mower you have ever seen. How

much grass can you cut? Joystick moves your mower around as fast as you dare. Watch out lor

granny's dalodils and grandpa's radio antenna. $14.95

COSMIC CRUZER ■ Bring the coin op game inlo your VIC. 3 Scenarios. Your Cruzer moves over

a mountainous landscape & into a lunnel of surface to air missle, silos and ground - to - air

weapons. II you can make it in and out ol ihe funnel you lly into I he asteroid deld. Drop bombs and

fire missiles at the fuel dumps to keep your fuel supply up. II you are really good you can get to the

base and try, to destroy it. We don'l know of anyone that has hit the base yet. Maybeyouwillbethe

1st. Cosmic Cruzer is a fun filled magnificently rendered home video game that will last for months

ol challenge Highly addicting. Hi Res Graphics, Color & Sound. SPECIAL PRICE - $14.95

SPACE PAK - Can you survive? 3 space games with I he sights and sounds of arcade games. The

excitement builds as the action is unending. Blasl away al everything in sight. The alien attacks will

stop at nolhing lo destroy you. Prepare lor battle, ihere is no escape, unless you can help. Can you

survive? HiRes, Color, Graphic Si Sound. Joyslick or keyboard. $19.95

ALIEN INVASION - Invaders from space are attacking your home planet. Hurry and man your

lasers and prepare your robot lorces for the inevitable attack of the Alien Invaders. The excitmenl

builds as you command a battery of missile bases in a bunker. Each invader has a laser aimed right al

you. Will they ever stop. Only you can save the Galaxy. You can compete with 4 people in the solar

system There are 20 levels of play. II you destroy the Aliens in the correct order you will receive

bonus points Can you get the top score? S14.95

TARGET COMMAND -The whole West Coast isbeingbombardedandonlyyoucansaveit. You

are at the controls of the missile launcher and hold the destiny ol our country in your hands. It takes

a cool head, not hand and lasl reflexes to zap those missiles nghl oul ol the air. Get ready to

pulverize — atomize and vaporize them. Oh, my God, those warheads are heading right lor our

ammo dumps. They are everywhere. NO ONE CAN SAVE US - EXCEPT YOU. You must move

your laser into position and fire as last as you dare. Time limit with arcade style excitement. Protect

your ammo at all costs. 10 levels of play. $14.95

SNAKEOUT - Slip your snake into position and score by chomping Ihe blocks. Watch the way you

slither because your escape routes get smaller. 2 Bonus games included. $14.95

HEAD-ON - Please do not buylhisgameifyouarelhetypeth.it says Til play it just one more lime".

Players have been known lo start playing HEAD ON al 8:30 p.m. and at 2 a.m., wonder where the

time went? Have you ever Iried to explain to someone why you played a game lor five and a hall

hours. We know of no remedy for the addiction to HEAD ON except to beat the VIC on level 9. No

one has done it, YET, will you? We think not. Move your car as fast as you can dare around Ihe

tracks. You get 3 cars and MUST avoid the computer car. Points for the most dots covered. Bonus

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programs

Hexterminator IIby George Currie

Type and save this

game program for the

unexpandedVIC20.

You have just defeated the evil

planet HEX. You must keep the

little Hexcans from escaping past

you. These Hexcans can hurt

you only by hitting you. They

come down either diagonally or

straight. You must shoot the Hex-

cans as quickly as possible be

cause the higher up you shoot

them the more points you get. If

you let one go by you lose points.

There is only one thing that

keeps you from totally eradicat

ing their race—the HEXTER

MINATOR ship. He comes out

every once in a while at ihe top

and attempts to blast you. He will

always shoot you if you are under

him, and the higher your score

the greater your chance of being

blasted. You can't shoot him (at

least it's never been done), be

cause he is too quick. But, be

cause he moves two spaces every

time, there is an escape from him.

You have three lives. Press F-l

for a one-player game, F-3 for two

players, F-5 for the top nine high

scores. The cursor keys move you

and the letter Z fires your ray. C

Hexterminator II

0 REM HEXTERMINATAR II MCMLXXXIII HEX

4 DEF FN L(P)=-(P=23 AND A<8185)+(P=31 AND A>8164)

:DEF FN K (Z)=Z/3500:GOTO 1000

5 PRINT T$(G) " [WHITE] "SC(G)11 [LEFT,SPACE2] ": RETURN

6 PRINT T$(G)"[WHITE,DOWN]"LEFT$(L$,L{G))"[SPACE2]":RETURN

7 PRINT"[HOME,RIGHTS,CYAN]"HS%(1):RETURN

8 A$="[SPACE5]":B$="[SPACE4]":IF P2 = l THEN A$ = "[SPACE]00

[SPACE2]":B$="###"

9 PRINT"[HOME,WHITE,SPACE]00[SPACE2]"TAB(16)A$

:PRINT"[HOME,DOWN,SPACE]# # #"SPC(13)B$:RETURN

100 V=36878:S2=36877:S1=36875:B=0:GOSUB 450:G=l:P2=0

:A=8175:POKE A,35:IF P=47 THEN P2=l

120 FOR T=l TO 2:SC(T)=0:L(T)=3:NEXT:L$="[SPACE]###"

:GOSUB 8:GOSUB 6:GOTO 250

150 P=PEEK(197):POKE A,32:A=A+FN L(P):POKE A,35:POKE A+Q,l

:ON-(P=33)-2* (PO33JG0T0 200,255

200 D=A:F=D:X=.:POKE V,15:SS=250

203 X=X+1:IF X=20 THEN X=0:GOTO 225

205 SS=SS-1:POKE S2,SS:F=F-22:IF F=R THEN SC(G)=SC(G)+33

:R=.:BB=1:GOSUB 5:G0T0 220

207 POKE F+Q,2:POKE F,37:GOTO 203

220 POKE F,38:POKE S1,220:POKE S2,190:FOR T=10 TO 15

:POKE V,T:F0R 1=1 TO 30:NEXT I,T

225 POKE SI,.:POKE S2,.:FOR T=D TO F+22 STEP-22:D=D-22

:POKE D,32:NEXT:ON BB+1 GOTO 255,250


programs

250 BB=0:Z=SC(G):IF RND(l)<FN K(Z)THEN B=2:GOTO 400

251 CH=36:LI=8185:MI=.:IF RND(1)>.5 THEN R=7746+INT(RND(1

)*22)+l:U=22:CO=4:GOTO 255

253 U=23:W=INT(RND(l)*20)+l:R=E%(W):C0=5:IF W>10 THEN U = 21

255 POKE R,32:R=R+U:SC(G)=SC(G)-1:IF R>LI OR R<MI THEN GO

SUB 5:G0T0 250

260 POKE R+Q,CO:POKE R,CH:IF R=A THEN 300

263 IF A-R=418 THEN 420

265 GOTO 150

300 GOSUB 5:POKE A,39:POKE S2,210:FOR T=15 TO 0 STEP-1

:POKE V,T:F0R 1=1 TO 75:NEXT I,T:POKE S2f.

305 L(G)=L(G)-1:IF L{G)=.THEN 355

320 IF G=2 THEN G=1:GOTO 340

325 IF G=l AND P2=l THEN G=2

340 PRINT"[HOME,DOWN9,RIGHT6,WHITE]PLAYER"G"UP"

:FOR T=l TO 7500:NEXT

350 GOSUB 450:GOSUB 6:A=8175:B=.:POKE A,35:GOTO 250

355 DP=1:IF L(1)=.AND P2=.THEN FL=1

357 IF P2=l AND L{2)=.THEN DP=2:FL=1

360 PRINT"[HOME,DOWN9,RIGHT2]PLAYER"DP"GAME[SPACE]OVER"

•FOR T=l TO 5000:NEXT:IF FL=.THEN G=2:GOTO 350

370 FOR J=l TO G:FOR T=l TO 9:IF SC(J)<HS%(T)THEN NEXT

373 FOR 1=9 TO T STEP-1:HS%(1+1)=HS%(I):NEXT:HS%(T)=SC(J)

:NEXT J:FL=.:GOTO 520

400 CH=40:CO=3:LI=7767:MI=7746:IF RND(1)>.5 THEN R=7746

:U=2:GOTO 255

403 R=7767:U=-2:GOTO 255

420 SS=235:POKE V,15:FOR T=R+22 TO A STEP 22:SS=SS-1

:POKE S2,SS:POKE T,37:POKE T+Q,7:NEXT:GOTO 300

450 FOR T=7746 TO 8185:POKE T,32:NEXT:RETURN

520 GOSUB 7:GOSUB 450:A$="[HOME,DOWN14]"

:PRINT"[HOME,DOWN4,WHITE,SPACE5]HIGH[SPACE]SCORES

[DOWN]"

523 FOR T=l TO 9:PRINT LEFT$(A$,T+6)SPC(6)T"-"HS%(T):NEXT

:FOR T=l TO 7000:NEXT:GOSUB 450:GOTO 630

604 FOR T=l TO 9:HS%(T)=500:NEXT:DIM E%(20):X=.:G=1

:T5(1)="[HOME]":T$(2)="[HOME,RIGHT16]"

610 FOR T=7746 TO 7944 STEP 22:X=X+1:E%(X)=T:NEXT

:FOR T=7767 TO 7965 STEP 22:X=X+1:E%(X)=T:NEXT

620 GOSUB 8:T=0:Q=30720:FOR T=7724 TO 7745 STEP 2

:POKE T,41:POKE T+Q,7:POKE T+l,42:POKE T+1+Q,7:NEXT

62 7 GOSUB 7

6 30 PRINT"[HOME,DOWN4,WHITE,SPACE3]HEXTERMINATAR[SPACE]II"

:PRINT"[DOWN2]F1[SPACE]=[SPACE]START[SPACE]1[SPACE]

PLAYER[DOWN,SPACE3]F3[SPACE]=[SPACE]START[SPACE]2

[SPACE]PLAYER"


633 PRINT"[HOME,DOWN11]F5[SPACE]=[SPACE]HIGH[SPACE]SCORES"

:PRINT"[HOHE,DOWN13]USE[SPACE]CRSR[SPACE]KEYS[SPACE]

TO[SPACE]MOVE[DOWN,SPACE9]Z=FIRE

635 P=PEEK(197):ON-(P=39)-2*(P=47)-3*{P=55)GOTO 100,100,

520

645 GOTO 635

1000 POKE 56,28:POKE 36869,255:FOR 1=7168 TO 7679

:POKE I,PEEK(I+25600):NEXT

1010 FOR T=l TO 8:READ X:FOR L=X TO X+7:READ Y:POKE L,Y

:NEXT:NEXT:PRINT"[CLEAR]":POKE 36879,15:GOTO 604

1015 DATA 7448,24,36,24,24,102,60,102,102,7456,68,130,124,214,124,68,56,198

1020 DATA 7464,24,24,24,24,24,24,24,24,7472,122,224,2,234,213,123,146,202

1025 DATA 7480,8,42,20,34,85,34,8,62,7496,0,255,104,107,8,107,104,255

1030 DATA 7488,129,90,60,90,60,36,90,60,7504,0,255,93,235,247,235,93,255

TM

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File Organiier Creates Data

Base storase system Useful for

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programs

Check-64by Ron Cohen

This program was written as a response to the

increasing demand for user-friendly, practical pro

grams for home use on the Commodore 64. It will

manage your checkbook, given the proper inputs.

Withdrawals should be input as negative num

bers. All user input should be numeric, except for

the memo, which can be up to 15 characters.

The program will run on the VIC 20 as well, if

you take out the POKEs in line 30 and adjust the

checkbook output section so it spans 22 columns

instead of 40. C

Check-64

51

52

53

54

55

REM

REM

REM

REM

REM

10 DIM A$(4,10)

20 PRINT"[CLEAR,BLACK]"

30 POKE 53281,1:POKE 53280,2:PRINT

40 PRINT"[D0WN5,RIGHT7]COMMODORE-64[SPACE]CHECKBOOK"

50 FOR 1=1 TO 2500:NEXT:PRINT"[CLEAR]":G0SUB 500*******************************

* INITIALIZATION *

* AND *

* SETUP ********************************

6 0 A$(l,l)="MEM0":A$(2,l)="CHK. [SPACE]#"

70 A$(3,1)="AMT."

8 0 INPUT"STARTING [SPACE]BALANCE[SPACE]$";A$(4,1)

90 INPUT"#[SPACE]OF[SPACE]ENTRIES";N

100 PRINT A$(l,1)TAB(15)A${2,1)"[SPACE2]"A${3,1)"[SPACE5]

BALANCE"

REM ******************************

REM * INPUT DATA *

REM * AND *

REM * TRANSACTIONS *

REM ******************************

FOR 3=2 TO N+l

1 = 1

101

102

103

104

105

110

120

130 PRINT"TRANSACTION[SPACE]#[SPACE]"J-l

140 INPUT"MEMO";A${I,J)

150 1=1+1

160 INPUT"CHK.[SPACE]#";A${I,J)

170 1=1+1

180 INPUT"AMOUNT[SPACE2]$";A${I,J)

181 REM ******************************

182 REM * CONVERT DATA *


y

183 REM * AND *

184 REM * COMPUTE BALANCE *185 REM ******************************

190 X=VAL(A${I,J))

200 Y=VAL(A$(4,J-1))

210 A$(4,J)=STR$(Y+X)

215 IF VAL(A$(4,J))<>0 THEN 217

216 PRINT"[CLEAR,DOWN4]YOU[SPACE]HAVE[SPACE]NO[SPACE]

MONEY[SPACE]LEFT...DEPOSIT[SPACE]SOME!"

:FOR D=l TO 5000:NEXT:PRINT"[CLEAR]

217 IF VAL(A$(4,J))<0 THEN GOTO 285

220 NEXT J

2 21 REM *******************************

222 REM * CHECKBOOK *

223 REM * OUTPUT *

224 REM *******************************

230 PRINT"[CLEAR,DOWN]"A$(1,1)TAB(15)A$(2,1)"[SPACE2]

"A$(3,l)"[SPACE5]BALANCE"

235 PRINT"[SHFT O,CMDR Y14,SHFT O,CMDR Y5,SHFT O,CMDR Y6,

SHFT P,CMDR Y10,SHFT P]"

240 FOR J=2 TO N+l

250 PRINT A$(l,J)TAB(15)A$(2,J)TAB(22)A$(3,J)TAB(30)A$(4,

J)260 PRINT:NEXT J

270 PRINT"[SHFT L,CMDR P14,SHFT L,CMDR P5,SHFT L,CMDR P6,

SHFT @,CMDR P10,SHFT @]"

275 PRINT"STARTING[SPACE]BALANCE[SPACE4]FINAL[SPACE]

BALANCE"

276 PRINT TAB(4)"S"A$(4,1)TAB<24)"$"A$(4,J-1)

28 0 END

285 PRINT"[CLEAR,DOWN5,RIGHT6]INSUFFICIENT[SPACE]FUNDS"

:FOR DE=1 TO 5000:NEXT DE

300 PRINT"[CLEAR]":GOTO 120

4 00 REM *******************************

401 REM * CHECKBOOK *

402 REM * PROCEDURE *

403 REM * INSTRUCTIONS *

500 PRINT"[DOWN5,RIGHT2]INPUT[SPACE]WITHDRAWALS[SPACE]AS

[SPACE]NEGATIVE[SPACE]NUMBERS"

505 PRINT"[DOWN2,RIGHT2]INPUT[SPACE]NUMBERS[SPACE]ONLY

[SPACE]EXCEPT[SPACE]FOR[SPACE]MEMOS"

510 FOR DE=1 TO 6500:NEXT:PRINT"[CLEAR]":RETURN


book review

Machine Language for Beginnersby Richard Mansfield

Published by COMPUTE! Books

Reviewed by Danny Byrne

"There are going to be a million machine lan

guage programmers out there!" was my first reac

tion when I finally broke down and bought another

book on machine language, after swearing "Never

again!". I just wish that Machine Language for Be

ginners had been released a few months earlier.

It might have saved me a lot of hair pulling and

agonizing moments, trying to leam things that most

of the other books assumed I already understood.

Not to mention the money I might have saved (well

over $100 worth of ML books clutter my shelves).

Machine Languagefor Beginners by Richard

Mansfield, is just that: FOR BEGINNERS. Although

there are several very well written books on pro

gramming with the 6502 instruction set in machine

language, they all pre-suppose an intimate knowl

edge of your computer's innards and of the micro

processor. So where in the world does a beginner

go to obtain this arcane knowledge? After all, these

days people usually buy computers with keyboards

and built-in languages that don't require knowledge

of a particular microprocessor's instruction set. Years

ago, when computers were as big as horses and

could only be programmed via a maze of switches,

machine language was the standard, mainly be

cause BASIC, COBOL, etc., were not invented yet.

Unfortunately, most of the fellows who have been

writing 6502 machine language books seem to think

that most of their readers were introduced to com

puters during that era, and for the average person to

leam ML from them, the bookstores need to retail

an instructor on a neighboring rack! Until they do,

I highly recommend Machine Language for Begin

ners as your first introduction to the world of ma

chine language.

The best way to use Mansfield's book is to begin

at the beginning, even if you already understand

some machine language concepts. The author in

cludes many analogies to aid in understanding exactly

what is happening inside the microprocessor. For

instance, in Chapter 2 he writes: "The difficulty of

learning ML has sometimes been exaggerated.

There are some new rules to leam and some new

habits to acquire. But most ML programmers would

probably agree that ML is not inherently more

difficult to leam than BASIC."

Because so many people who buy computers

today are using some version of BASIC, the author

has included a section on BASIC commands and

their machine language equivalents. This is the sec

tion that I find the most pleasing. After all, the best

way to leam anything is to find its relational aspects,

and believe me, BASIC is more than just related to

machine language—it was written with it.

One of the hardest BASIC concepts for me to

leam, way back when (1982), was FOR-NEXT

loops and time delays. It took awhile to understand

what nesting was and that looping was another form

of indexing. When [ saw the same FOR-NEXT-

STEP statement in this book I thought to myself

"Not again!" But after I read a little it soon became

clear. Once I understood the BASIC version, it was

only a matter of redefining a few rules. The ML ver

sions work the same, in principle, except you're

using registers for the counter variable. At first, the

idea of addressing might seem strange or difficult,

but with a little practice using the examples it will

soon become second nature to you.

Included are memory maps for most computers

that have 6502 CPUs, as well as an assembler, dis

assembler, and ML moniter that can be typed in.

Computer-specific adjustments are explained. Typ

ing in each of these will give you the necessary tools

to put you well on your way to writing ML pro

grams. The author does not belittle the importance

of BASIC, but points out that wherever you need

speed in your programs, use ML. The mixture of

the two will enhance your skills at producing powerful programs.

In closing, all I can say is READ ON (if only it had

been out sooner...)


Stimulating Simulations

for the VICbyC.W.Engel

Published by Hayden Publishing

Reviewed by Jim Gracely

Stimulating Simulations for the VIC is

available from Commodore as part ofa

four-book set that is excellent for both

beginners and more advanced users of

the VIC20. The other books in thepack

age are VIC Revealed, VIC Graphics and

VIC Games, all by Nick Hampshire, alt

published by Hayden Books.

For many years now you have heard rumors

of large quantities of gold hidden in a maze of

caves whose connecting passageways lead

deep beneath the earth of an occasionally active

volcano. The stories tell of monsters and de

mons who roam through the caves, poisonous

gas, tremors from the volcano, and one man

who returned from these perils alive and named

the caves The Devil's Dungeon.

This is the introductory paragraph to the descrip

tion of the most stimulating and elaborate simulation

in this book. [ don't know about you, but this kind of

talk makes me want to jump up, grab my scimitar

and leap onto the back of my trusty Arabian battle

stallion. Anyway...

This is a book about writing simulations. Simula

tions are indeed a hot software item right now, and

include everything from lemonade stands through

fantasy role-playing games. In this book, the sim

ulation writer is presented with the concepts and

programming techniques necessary to effectively

stimulate the game player. That sounds like quite a

mouthful, but mostly what it means is that this is a

how-to book.

Stimulating Simulations presents 12 pro

grams ranging from rare bird watching to dun

geon spelunking. In between these two ends are

programs such as Forest Fire, Diamond Thief, and

Art Auction. I must compliment Mr. Engel on the

documentation for these programs. Each program

has a variable listing, a complete flowchart, includ

ing references to program line numbers, comments

on possible modifications to the program and sugges

tions for expanding the ideas presented. This docu

mentation greatly enhances the program listings and

keeps the reader involved with something more

than simply entering lines of BASIC.

1 should add right about now that this book as

sumes that the person reading it has a good under

standing of BASIC. It does not provide a line-by-line

description of what each program is doing. At the

same time simulation programs don't contain the

tricks and crunching that many graphic game pro

grams must, and perhaps this book could help a be

ginning programmer understand the fundamentals

of programming.

The only problem I found with the book is the

unfortunate selection of a soccer game simulation

in the introduction. The text of the introduction is

very good, explaining to the writer how to create a

setting and goal for a simulation and includes many

good ideas for programs. However, the soccer game

program misses its mark, and at best is a sluggish

example of what a simu

lation is not. If you want

to get a feel for playing

the simulations, skip this

program listing and begin

by typing in Art Auction

or Monster Chase.

I give this book good

marks overall and would

recommend it to anyone

interested in the "how do

they do that" or better yet

the "how can I do that"

of simulations. C

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glitch tin

"The Commodore 64

Skiffle Band"

by Jim ButterfieldSpring, 1983

We are guilty of omitting line 300 from Jim's pro

gram listing, which plays the first note of the tune

"Dixie." Here's the missing line:

3SG DflTR 10,51..37..0..0,0..0

"VIC Super Piano

by Myron MillerSpring, 1983

Myron writes:

1 am writing to report some errors that appear in

the published program listing for "Super Piano". I

found the following errors.

Line 220

Published i

220 PRINT" R! REPLAY TUNE"

R ABOVE"," S! SAVE TUNE

Original

220 PRINT" R! REPLAY TUNE",

R ABOVE"," S! SAVE TUNE

,•' x

ON

11 X!

ON

JEXIT

TAPE

EXIT

TAPE

Mn

M

OR

OR

The published version will not print a space be

tween "X;" and "EXIT" in the key guide.


Line 245

Published!

245 PRINT'FRESS ANY KEY TO CONT"!

Original!

245 PRINTtFRINT" PRESS ANY KEY TO

CONT"!

Extra colon, no real problem.

The original version prints a blank line in between

the last instruction and the "PRESS ANY KEY" mes

sage, and prints a space between the border and

"PRESS". The published version does not.

Line 255

Published!

255 POKEV,15!!PRINTCHR$(147)

Original!

255 FOKEV,15{PRINTCHR*U47)

Extra colon, no real problem.

Line 330

Published!

330 PRINTCHR$(19)BL*CHR$(19)

Original!

330 PRINTCHR$(19>BL$,BL*CHR$U9)

The purpose of this line is to erase the messages

that appear at the top of the screen after a key is

pressed. The original version will erase the top two

lines. The published version erases only the top line.

Thus the published version will erase "KEYBOARD

READY", but leaves "NO TUNE IN MEMORY" or

"TUNE MEMORY FULL" on the screen.

Line 335

Published!

335 IFA$="X11THENM=0!!Q=0!GOSUB

1000!GOTO305

Original!

335 IFA*="X"THENM=0SQ=0SGOSUB

1000JGOTO305

Line 355

Published

355 IFM=lORR=iTHEN310

Original!

355 IFM=1 OR R=1THEN315

The original program, by returning to line 315,

will allow only the number keys (notes), function keys

(octaves), and carriage return to be memorized. The

published program, by returning to line 310, allows

any key to be memorized, and will attempt to play

back meaningless key closures.

Line 435

Published!

435 PRINT" "CHR*U8)CHR*<OC%(FK»CHR$

(146KGOTO310

Original!

435 PRINT" "CHR$(1S)CHR$(OC%(FK»CHR*

When using the print feature, the published pro

gram will start printing on a new line each time that

an octave (function key) is selected. The original

program uses the semicolon to keep the printout on

the same line. C

"Phone Home"

Program ListingSpring, 1983

Line 420 should be:

420FORJ=lTO2:FORK=lTO50

COMMODORE: POWER/PLAY Fall 19S3 125

new products

Company:Softron, Inc.

2067 Broadway, Suite 27

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212-490-0077

Product:Keyboard Soft/Lay—Keyboard

overlay for the VIC 20 and Com

modore 64. Includes BASIC

commands, memory locations,

DOS commands and more. For

users and programmers.

Price: $8.95

Product:EZ/DOS—VIC 20 and Com

modore 64 machine language

utility for all disk drive users.

Makes use of the disk drive easy

for everyone, even those without

computer experience.

Price: $29.95

Company:Integrated Controls

1240-L Logan Avenue

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

714-641-0181

Product:VIAC/VAAB Combo—Audio/

video interface for VIC 20 and

V1AOVAAB audio/video interfaces

Commodore 64 computers.

Allows users to connect audio

and video equipment to their

computer.

Price: VIAC (audio) $44.95; VAAB

(video) $24.95; Combo $64.95

Company:RAK Electronics

P.O. Box 1585

Orange Park, FL 32067-1585

904-264-6777

Product:SWL RTTY/MORSE—For

the VIC 20 and Commodore 64.

Converts your computer into a

low-cost RTTY and morse de

coding and display terminal, so

you can listen in on the world of

radioteletype and morse code.

Allows you to receive 45 to 100

baud BAUDOT RTTY and 5 to

30 words per minute morse code.

Requires TTL compatible terminal

unit. Package includes software

on cassette, special user port con

nector and complete instructions.

Price: $19.95 plus $2.00 shipping

and handling

Company:Smoky Mountain Software

54 West Main Street

Brevard, NC 28712

704-883-2595

Product:Bible Trip—Bible educational

program for the Commodore 64.

Uses color graphics, sound and

animation. Your space ship is

caught in a time warp and you

find yourself in Palestine during

the first century. For sixth

grade through adult.

Price: Tape $9.95; disk $14.95

Company:Bubble Bus

87 High Street

Tonbridge, Kent TNI 1LS

England

Product:Hustler—Pool-type game for

the Commodore 64. Written in

machine code, with sprite graphics

and music. Six possible games for

one or two players.

Price: Contact company

Company:Reilly Associates

P.O. Box 17144

Rochester, NY 14617

Product:BounceAround—Action strat

egy game for the VIC 20. Use the

keyboard to control a fast-moving

ball. Hit the targets, but avoid the

Voids, which swallow the ball. Re

quires either 3K expander or

Super Expander.

Price: Tape $9.95

Company:Programmers Guild

P.O. Box 220

LaCrescent, MN 55947

Product:Sub Rescue—Action strategy

game for the Commodore 64.

Rescue the stranded divers, but

beware of the Death Ship, mines

and more. Return your cargo

safely to Atlantis for more

ammunition.

Price: Tape $24.95


Company:Brgfderbund Software

1938 Fourth Street

San Rafael, CA 94901

Product:Cartridge games for the VIC

20—In AE you must eliminate

the hordes of robot sting rays. In

creasingly difficult levels of play,

four different three-dimensional

screens. S/cy Blazer is the World

War III aircraft you pilot to destroy

the defenses and headquarters of

the Bungleing Empire. Both are

joystick controlled.

Price: $39.95 each

Product:Cartridge games for the Com

modore 64—Choplifter! features

realistic throttle action as you try

to rescue hostages from behind

enemy lines in your helicopter.

Animation and 3-D graphics. Ser

pentine is an arcade action game

with 20 levels of play. You are a

snake who must destroy the giant

serpents. Both use joystick.

Price: Choplifter! $44.95; Ser

pentine $39.95

Company:Tronix Publishing, Inc.

8295 S. LaCienega

Inglewood, CA 90301

213-215-0529

Product:Games on disk for the Commo

dore 64—Juice, a strategy game,

has six levels of play, each with

three rounds plus a bonus round.

Points are earned as Edison, the

main character, completes circuit

boards while he avoids the Killer-

watts and other characters. In Kid

Grid, the Kid must connect all the

dots before the four bullies catch

him. He also must watch out for

the bouncing question mark.

Price: $34.95 each

Kid Grid (rom Tronix

Company:Pagemate, Inc.

8166 E. 44th Street

Tulsa, OK 74145

918-627-7440

Product:Pagemate*—A bookholder

and typing easel designed to ac

commodate almost any size book,

programming manual, periodical

or loose pages. It is designed to

keep pages in place, yet allow

pages to be turned easily. Adjust

able to any angle. Available acces

sories include "Line-a-timers" for

easy line location reference and

hard cover extenders for hard

cover or thick books.

Price: $19.95; with all accessories $27.50

Company:TravelMaster™

Division of Southern Case, Inc.

2315 Laurelbrook Street,

P.O. Box 28147

Raleigh, NC 27611-8147

919-821-0877

Product:Molded carrying cases for the

Commodore 64 and VIC 20—

TCC-2360 is designed to carry the

Commodore 64 and disk drive.

The TCV-2360 holds the VIC 20,

cassette recorder, power pack unit,

four cartridges and two joysticks.

Price: $79.95

TravelMaster Model TCC 2360 TrawlMaster Model TCV 2360


new products

Company:Fantasy Plaza

P.O. Box 6055

Burbank, CA 91510

Product:Fantasy Plaza computerized

shopping mall—Accessible with

your computer and modem.

Simulates a shopping center,

where you can browse through

the "stores" and select merchan

dise. Then place your order and

the merchandise is delivered to

your door, C.O.D. Most mer

chandise is computer-oriented,

but one "floor" also offers gen

eral merchandise.

Company:Programmers' Pipeline

P.O. Box 666

Glendora.CA 91740

213-914-4317

Product:Checklist for Program

Authors—A leaflet that walks new

programmers (or maybe even ex

perienced ones) through the steps

of preparing a program for mar

keting, right down to reminding

you to mark any program you

send through the mail with a

"Magnetic Medium!" warning.

Price; Free with the mention of

Power/Play and a stamped, self-

addressed envelope.

alien *att..rXet VM 20

anb

Yes, the VOICE SOX™ fromThe Alien Group, the world's ONLY

singing speech synthesizer, now grails

Ihe power of speecn to the VIC 20™A commented, all-BASIC demo program gets

Ihe VOICE BOX talking right away, and. since it can be■'taught" to say anything, trie VOICE BOX has an unlimited vocabulary!

The voice speaks with natural speech inflection controlled either from the program orIrom the precise, built-in Pitch control. Wo oilier speech synthesizer has this feature!Want to add speech to a new or existing BASIC program! The VOICE BOX has FOUR ways

to do it on a VIC 20 of any memory size: entirely from BASIC, or using one of the threemachine language programs readily added to other programs- English text-lo-speech, Ihesame with the hp-synch "Alien" face added, or use of the 64 basic phonemes as input. Achallenging spelling quiz that accepts new words (expanded memory required) is provided onthe cassette supplied.

Trie VOICE BOX plugs directly into the VIC 20's user port, comes with built:in speaker.

Volume and Pitch controls and lots of instructions from The Alien Group, the people who gotAtari- and Apple' to speak!

Available at leading computer stores everywhere, or order direct by sending S95.00 to: TheAlien Group, 27 W. 23rd St.. NY, NY 10010. Programs for a high-res talking human face anda comprehensive music and singing system available on separate cassette tor $25 00(expanded RAM necessary).

Vit 20 it i irjatmsrk or Comnraoft Electronics Lid VOICE BOi is i irmemuk nl The Align Groun


advertisersindex

Advertisers Page No.

A. Cheny Computer Idea Cc

Abacus Software

Academy Software

Alien Group

Bay Area Software

Cooperative

Briley Software

Clockwork Computers

Comm*Data

Commodore

Computer Case Co.

Computermat

French Silk

Hypertek, Inc.

Harry R Leonard

Micro-Ed

Micro 80

Midnite Software Gazette

New Leaf

Nufekop

Peak Software

Precision Technology

). 102

92

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128

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93

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Protecto Enterprises 11/64/84/100

Public Domain, Inc.

Purvis Systems

Reston Software

School Master

T.I.S.

20 Load

Voice World

Westmoreland Systems

97

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8

COMPUTERS

First Book Of VICAuthors: COMPUTE! Magazine

contributors

Price: SI 2.95

On Sale: Now

V Introduction

Chapter One: Getting Started.3 The Story Of The VIC

11 Computer Genesis

20

Robert Lock

Michael S Tomczyk

46

Finally, it's VIC's turn!

Users or other popular personal

computers have been enjoying their

COMPUTE! Books: COMPUTED

First Book Of PET/CBM, Program

ming The PET/CBM, and others.

Now, there's a book devoted

exclusively to the Commodore VIC-

201U Computer: COMPUTEI's First

Book Of VIC.

The editors of COMPUTE!

Magazine - the leading resource for

the VIC-20 - gathered together the

bestVIC-20 articles published since

the summer of 198! and added

some new material. The result ismore than 200 pages of valuable

information - information that goes

beyond the instruction manuals. In

the COMPUTE! tradition, it is care

fully edited to be easily understood

and useful for beginners and experts

alike.

COMPUTED First Book Of VIC

is spiral-bound to lie flat, and

includes ready-to-type program

listings and articles such as "The

Joystick Connection: Meteor Maze,"

"STARFIGHT3," "Train Your PET To

Run VIC Programs," "Renumber

BASIC Lines The Easy Way," "High

Resolution Plotting," "Custom Char

acters For The VIC," "VIC Memory -

The Uncharted Adventure," and "A

Simple Monitor For The VIC."

At only S12.95, less than most

computer manuals, COMPUTEI's First Book Of VIC

is among the best resources a VIC user can own.

24 Large Alphabet . J'm Butrer/ield26 Using A Joystick . Dou9 Ferguson39 Extended Input Devices David Maimberg

M'ke fessman ' Salomon lederman

72 STARFIGHT378 Aiphabenzer

80 Count The Hearts

hen P. p

■ DuD ScrogginDavid ft. Mizner

- ■ JimWilcox

97 Train Your pet To Run vie99 User Input

103 Amortize .,

106 Append ..

109 Printing The Screen113 The Confusing Quote115 Alternate Screens119 timekeeping

James P

Lyle Jordan

Wayne Kozun■ - - . Amihai Glazer

■ ■ ■ Wayne Kozun

■ ■ ■ .CD. Lane

Charles Brannon

Jim Buiierfield

125 Renumber BASIC Lines The' Easy Way ' ~ Kcilh Sct1|e"'«177 Ai n..m-..,, i Charles H GouldAutomatic Line ..' 29 Putting Thv Squeeze On Your V1C-2Q

Gelling Thv Most Out Of 5000 Bytes'1*1 An Easy Way To Relocate VIC Programs

On Other Commodore Computers

25EXFour: Color Ana G«ph'«.<(.r

I figh Resolution Plotting154 VIC Color Tips .

157 The Window160 Custom Onaraaers For The VIC

B'OWitny Tr

186 vie Memny - The Uncharted Adventure ') 89 Memory M,ip Abow Page Zero

Chapter Six: Machine Languaqe.195 riNYMON I. A simple Monitor P* The vie202 Entering TINVMONI Directly Into Your VIC-20211 index

- Stanley M. Berlin

and toss Sherwood

■ Kenneth Knox

Paul F. schatz

. Charles Brannon

- Charles Brannon

David Malmberg

■ ■.. Dale GilbertJim Butte/fieid

David B-irron / Michael Kfeinert■ Jim ButterfreW

Kav.nagh

Available at computer dealers and bookstores nationwide. To order directly call TOLL FREE 800-334-0868.In North Carolina call 9! 9-275-9809. Or send check or money order to COMPUTE! Books, P.O. Box 5406,

Greensboro, NC 27403.

Add S2 shipping and handling. Ouisidf ihe U.S. add S5 tot jir matl, S2 lor surface mail All orders prepaid, US Funds only

VIC-20 is a trademark of Commodore Electronics Limited.

1200 Wilson Drive

West Chester, Pa. 19380

Addtoss Correc I ion Requested

B731-OOP-8

is supposed to be a

computer for persons

Not just wealthy

persons.Or whiz-kidpersons.Or privileged

Persons-But person personsIn other words, all the persons whom

Apple, IBM, and Radio Shack seem to

have forgotten about (including, most

likely you).But that's okay Because now you can

get a high-powered home computer

without taking out a second mortgage

on your home.

It's the Commodore 64. We're not

talking about a low-priced computer that

can barely retain a phone numberWe're talking about a memory of 64K.

Whichmeansitcanperformtasksmost

other home computers can't, Including

some of those that cost a lot more.(Take another look at the three comput-

ers above.)By itself, the Commodore 64 is all

the computer you'll ever need. Yet, if

you do want to expand its capabilitiessomeday you can do so by adding a

full complement of Commodore pe-ripherais. Suchasdiskdrives. Modems.

And printers.

You can also play terrific games onthe Commodore 64. Many of which

will be far i

challenging than

those you could

ever play on a

game machine alone.

And as great as all

this sounds, what'seven greater-sounding

is the price. It's hundreds of dollars less

than that of our nearest competitor

So while other companies are trying

to take advantage of the computer

revolution, it seems to us they're really

taking advantage of something else:Their customers.

IBM PC 64K

IRS-80 is a ieg4u>>«d Trmtenwk at lanai Corn iBM is a nggswrnt trsJeiwk a\ inieirurcnar Bu5mes$ Macnmcs Corp

j commodore

tT~V\ AP\ ITPP^^■^^'l V ll \w/ I I l\

Documents

Commodore_Power-Play_1983_Issue_06_V2_N03_Fall